Reading the Newspaper, the Artist’s Father

Nicolai Fechin, Reading the Newspaper, the Artist's Father, 1916, oil on canvas, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Arvin Gottlieb, 1991.205.9
Copied Nicolai Fechin, Reading the Newspaper, the Artist's Father, 1916, oil on canvas, 17 5⁄8 x 14 in. (44.8 x 35.6 cm.), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Arvin Gottlieb, 1991.205.9

Artwork Details

Title
Reading the Newspaper, the Artist’s Father
Artist
Date
1916
Location
Dimensions
17 5⁄8 x 14 in. (44.8 x 35.6 cm.)
Credit Line
Gift of Arvin Gottlieb
Mediums
Mediums Description
oil on canvas
Classifications
Subjects
  • Recreation — leisure — reading
  • Portrait male — Fechin, Mr. — elderly
Object Number
1991.205.9
Linked Open Data
https://edan.si.edu/saam/id/object/1991.205.9

Artwork Description

Nicolai Fechin painted this portrait of his father, Ivan Alexandrovitch Fechin, in Russia, seven years before the artist and his young family moved permanently to the United States. Ivan Fechin was a master wood craftsman and gilder who taught his son traditional Russian folk art carving. Nicolai later used these techniques to redecorate his New Mexico house, hand carving designs on the doors, ceiling beams, window frames, and furniture. The younger Fechin did not make preliminary sketches and instead painted directly from life. In Reading the Newspaper, the Artist's Father, he employed a technique he developed early in his career to capture gesture and movement, using a palette knife to block in larger strokes of paint. He portrayed his father in a quiet moment of leisure as opposed to hard at work as a craftsman.