the more direct creative process of working in wood. Southwestern United States While in New York, Fechin developed tuberculosis. Lacking effective antibiotics then, doctors recommended a drier climate for him. Fechin traveled west and in 1927 eventually settled with his family in Taos, New Mexico, which was developing as an arts center. The Taos mountains reminded him of the beauty he had seen in Siberia and he soon painted with fervor. He felt particularly close to the Native Americans, and many of his most acclaimed works done in the United States were of the Native Americans. Fechin had great affection for Taos and became a naturalized American citizen while living there. The Fechins purchased a two-story adobe house, and spent several years enlarging and modifying it according to designs by Fechin. Changes included adding and enlarging windows, enlarging the porch and making the rooms more open. He also carved 51 intricate doors according to Russian style, created triptych windows, and carved furniture for use in the house, which reflects a combination of modernist, Russian and Native American sensibility. A variety of Fechin's works in a range of genres can be seen at his former home, as part of the collection of the Taos Art Museum. Some of the personal spaces have also been preserved. In 1979 the building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Later life Fechin stopped working on the house when he and his wife Alexandra divorced in 1933. She lived at the house until her death in 1983. Fechin returned to New York with their daughter Eya for the winter, and she lived mostly with him until her own marriage. After New York, he traveled to Southern California, Mexico, Japan, and the Pacific Islands of Java and Bali. Soon he bought a spacious house in Hollywood, but in 1948 sold it and moved into a studio in Rustic Canyon in Santa Monica. There he taught small groups of students, painted, and entertained. In 1955 he died in Santa Monica and was buried there. In 1976 his daughter Eya took his remains back to Russia for reinterment at Arskoe Cemetery in Kazan. The Russian artist Sergei Bongart bought the Rustic Canyon studio where Fechin had lived and painted there until his own death later in 1985. Legacy and honors Significant collections of Fechin's paintings and drawings are housed at the Stark Museum of Art and