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A Little Nippy, Framed Oil Painting with Horses, New Mexico Female Artist

A Little Nippy, Framed Oil Painting with Horses, New Mexico Female Artist

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Ila Mae McAfee
A Little Nippy, Framed Oil Painting with Horses, New Mexico Female Artist
Mid 20th Century

About the Item

Oil on canvas board painting by Ila Mae McAfee (1987-1995) titled "A Little Nippy" portraying four horses in different color tones. Signed by the artist in the lower left corner and titled verso. Presented in a custom frame, outer dimensions measure 33 ½ x 27 ½ x 1 ⅜ inches. Image size is 27 ⅞ x 21 ¾ inches. Painting is clean and in very good vintage condition - please contact us for a detailed condition report. Provenance: Private Collection, Denver, Colorado Expedited and international shipping is available - please contact us for a quote. About the Artist: As a girl growing up in a ranching community near Gunnison, Colorado, Ila McAfee loved to ride horses and to make sketches. Riding ten-miles round trip to school and back, she developed empathy for these magnificent animals, which remained with her and served as the basis for her life in art. Gathering any scraps of paper that she could find, she drew their forms, and her first full image of a horse was in the family Bible. As an adult, she declared, “I just imagine them as if their being existed in a mythological realm.” McAfee went to Los Angeles and studied at the West Lake School of Art and Hay Art Studio. Then she returned to Gunnison, where she pursued a MA degree at Western State College, studying with Catherine and Henry Ricter. After graduating in 1919, the following year she moved to Chicago and became a student of muralist James E. McBurney and served as his assistant until 1924. During this time, she was also influenced by sculptor Lorado Taft. With career ambitions, she then attended the National Academy of Design and the Art Students League in New York City, where she worked as an illustrator and miniature painter of horse portraits. Yet the heart of this nature and animal lover would not be content in the cities of the East and Midwest. She met the artist Elmer Page Turner (whether in Chicago or in Colorado), who had grown up in Colorado. In 1926, the two married and set off for California to paint a mural. Arriving in Taos in their new Ford convertible, they met members of the Taos Society of Artists, and the memory of the creative energy in this sublime setting lingered with them. "It was so different then," McAfee once explained. "The village was small and the Indians remained uninfluenced by the invaders. Once I asked one of them, 'What did you call this country before the Europeans came?' 'Ours,' he told me." Two years later, the couple settled in Taos, where they built the White Horse Studio on what was then an alfalfa field and now is Civic Plaza Drive. "There was nothing between me and the mountain when we first got here." Responding to the Taoseño culture, she decorated their 'pueblo-revival' adobe home and studio with traditional hand-carving on mirror frames, pine chests, display cases and furniture. Ila and Elmer were vegetarians, with McAfee emphasizing the importance of eating greens. This simpatico that she felt with the animal world is clearly evident in the grace and dignity that she depicts in her paintings. The husband and wife artists would paint together, until a neurological condition made it impossible for Elmer to work. He remained involved in her work by providing titles for her paintings, until his death in 1988. In addition to her paintings and WPA murals, Ila illustrated children’s books, wrote and published poetry, and designed fabrics for Howard & Schaffer of New York. Ila’s connection to animals is clearly evident in her practice of teaching a series of cat companions — many named Sanka — a series of tricks (videos available on YouTube). ©David Cook Galleries, LLC

Creator:
Ila Mae McAfee (1897-1995, American)
Creation Year:
Mid 20th Century
Dimensions:
Height: 33.5 in (85.09 cm)Width: 27.5 in (69.85 cm)Depth: 1.5 in (3.81 cm)
Medium:
Oil
Movement & Style:
American Modern
Period:
Mid-20th Century
Condition:
very good to excellent condition.
Gallery Location:
Denver, CO
Reference Number:
Seller: 258661stDibs: LU27310218872

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