Duane Van Vechten, 1926 (commissioned from the artist by her father, circa early 1920's)

Very good original condition, unlined; under UV: some original pigments fluoresce.
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While on a visit to Russia in the early 1920s, prominent Chicago banker Ralph Van Vechten c♋ommissioned artist Nicolai Fechin to paint a portrait of his daughter Duane, which was completed in 1926. It is possible that  Van Vechten learned of Fechin's work through his brother Carl Van Vechte🔯n, the well-known writer, photographer and patron of the Harlem Renaissance, who socialized with the elite members of the avant-garde, including Georgia O'Keeffe and Gertrude Stein.

Duane met Fechin and his family in New York City in the mid-1920s after the artist had emigrated from Russia. The young woman and the Fechins quickly developed a close and lasting friendship, which is revealed in an inscription written in a book Fechin's wife Alexandra authored years later in 1937. She writes: "To Duane, One of the very first and dearest friends of mine in the United States...."  After developing tuberculosis in 1926, the Russian artist heeded his doctor's advice to relocate to a drier climate. Fellow artist and friend John Young-Hunter suggested that Fechin move his family out West to New Mexico where he could experience the "real" Aꦜmerica. Just a few years later, Duane also settled in Taos, where she would eventually become one of the city's leading art patrons.

Duane was first exposed to the artistic community in Taos by her parents; they were frequent visitors and befriended the founding members of the Taos school, and collecting their work.. This experience fostered Duane's artistic interests and she enrolled at the Art Institute of Chicago. After graduating, she moved to New York, the center of the American art world.  A life of privilege afforded Duane classes at the Art Students League and extensive travels throughout Europe to study the great masters while she mingled with the artists in her uncle's social circle. By 1928, she moved to Taos to take painting classes with Emil Bisttram. An example of her early work in Taos, Our Lady of Guadalupe Church, depicts one of the town's original buildings and reveals Duane's sophisticated  and well-trained eye. In 1935, Duane met Edward Lineberry, a builder and avid art collector, who had moved to Taos seven years earlier. Lineberry built the 3,000 square foot studio in which Duane painted, as well as the sprawling home on their estate named El Rancho de la Mariposa or "Butterfly Ranch" in r𒅌eference to Duane's favorite🐷 motif.  

Though Duane painted with local artists in her studio, she rarely exhibited or sold her work, largely obscuring her reputation as an artist🐷. Over the years, however, she  emerged as one of Taos' most  prominent and influential patrons. Duane's enthusiasm, commitment, and financial support of the Taos school helped to establish Taos' reputation as a premiere art colony. Building on her parents' original collection, Duane and Edwin assembled an exceptional and comprehensive collection featuring the works of  Oscar Berninghaus, Eanger Irving Couse, Joseph Henry Sharp, and Leon Gaspard. Duane and Edwin also maintained a particularly close personal relationship with Nicolai Fechin and his family, purchasi💮ng works directly from the artist.

While Portrait of Duane was painted early in the course of Duane and Fechin's burgeoning friendship, the impressive size and quality of the portrait suggests the sitter's stature and importance in the lives of the Fechin family. The portrait is a testament to their friendship and abiding affection, and displays Fechin's talent for fusing realism and abstraction in a single image. The subtle modeling of Duane's face, which communicates her sophistication and intelligence, contrasts with the bold, vigorous slashes of color that push the representations of her dress and chair to near abstraction. Dr. Rick Stewart explained the effects of Fechin's penchant for scumbling "which consists of dragging or pulling a loaded brush or palette knife across the surface of the work in a controlled manner, so as to leave some areas pitted or patchy depending on the relative fluidity of the paint. The result is a varied surface that shimmers and continually shifts in the light" (The American West: Legendary Artists of the Frontier, 1986, p. 158). Fechin believed in working with only a limited palette in a single painting, relying instead on audacious contrasts of color to create vibrant surfaces. In Portrait of Duane Fechin's originality as a skilled colorist is evident in his bold juxtapositions of white, lavender, and dark gray shades, unconnected by half-tones, yet harmoniously integrated by the vigorous brushwork. Fechin's Portrait of Duane possesses an elegant balance and exu꧃berance that elevates the portrait of a beloved friend into a striking, modern image.