career in Russia When Fechin returned from traveling, he resumed teaching at Kazan, where he taught for ten years. He was a popular instructor. He had a less demanding style of lessons than the gruelling exercises he had been forced to complete at the Imperial Academy. Among his students was Konstantin Chebotaryov. In 1910 Fechin was among the founders of the Commune of Artists. He exhibited with the Itinerants from 1912 to 1922 and with the Association of Artists of Revolutionary Russia (AKhRR) from 1922 to 1926. In addition, he designed sets and other scenic elements for the theatre from 1920 to 1922. Marriage and family In 1913, with his position at the school secure, Fechin married Alexandra Belkovitch (c. 1896–1983), the daughter of the director of the Kazan School of Art. They had a daughter, Eya (1914–2002). In 1933 they divorced and Eya lived with her father most of the time. United States The social disruption and widespread deprivation after the Russian Revolution made life difficult, and Fechin's parents died of typhoid fever. During the Russian famine of 1921 he was rescued by the American Relief Administration. In 1923 Fechin and his family emigrated to the United States, where they settled in New York. He was already well known in the States from canvases at American and European exhibitions, as well as sales. His patrons Stimmel and Jack Hunter, also John Burnham, the notable architect and a major collector of his work, helped Fechin and his family leave Russia. He soon was commissioned for new portraits and started teaching at the New York Academy of Art. He exhibited at the National Academy of Design, where in 1924 he won the first prize; in 1926 he won a medal at the 1926 International Exposition in Philadelphia. He became well known for his powerful portraits, which observers said seemed to radiate from the eyes of the subject. Some of his more renowned subjects are Frieda Lawrence, Douglas MacArthur, Anna May Wong, Ella Young, Willa Cather, Mabel Dodge Luhan, Rebecca Salsbury James, Ariadna Mikeshina, David Burliuk, Nikolai Evreinov, and Lillian Gish. At an early age, Fechin had learned carving from his father. As an adult, he produced impressionistic sculpture, primarily from wood. At the Academy he had worked with other materials as well, but he was impatient about the processes of constructing armatures and going through seemingly endless casting cycles. He enjoyed