Original Oil Painting “Untitled – New Mexico Mountains with Adobe” [R]

McAfee was raised on her family's ranch south of Gunnison, Colorado. In 1916, she graduated from Gunnison High School and then spent time in Los Angeles at the West Lake School of Art and the Haz Art School (1917 -1918).

In 1926, McAfee married Elmer Page Turner, an artist whom she had met on her parent's Colorado ranch, and that same year she visited Taos, New Mexico. Two years later, she and her husband settled there, and in 1929, they built the White Horse Studio, which continued to be her residence until 1993, when she moved to Pueblo, Colorado.

In Taos, she became known for her pueblo paintings and her depictions of horses and other animals as well as Native Americans, ranch scenes, and landscapes. In 1981, she was voted Taos Artist of the Year.

McAfee made the Taos Mountains the focus of this painting. To illustrate the magnificence of the mountains, she placed a very small adobe home in the foreground. The small adobe magnifies the monumental size of the mountains. Her subtle use of purple, pink, brown and rust colors softens and illuminates the mountains, while the brown leaves and brown adobe nestle silently beneath them.

This is certainly one of her finest landscapes. It is devoid of horses that are most often included in her paintings. By this omission of horses, one’s attention is drawn to the mountains. This certainly was her intent.

The painting dates to circa 1930s. It is framed in a gilded gold handmade frame and both the painting and frame are in excellent condition.