Taos Pueblo Original Painting of Running Deer [SOLD]

Merina Lujan (1906-1993) Pop Chalee - Blue Flower was well known for her murals and was commissioned to do work for Marshall Fields in Chicago, Santa Fe Railroad Ticket Office in Santa Fe, New Mexico State Capitol Building, the Albuquerque International Sunport and the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island in Michigan.

One of her most interesting works, which can still be seen today, is part of a mural commissioned for Maisel's Gallery on Central Avenue in downtown Albuquerque, New Mexico. In that project she collaborated with other well-known artists Harrison Begay, Awa Tsireh, Joe Herrera and Pablita Velarde. Two of Pop Chalee's very large paintings are prominently displayed in the Albuquerque International Sunport.

Blue Flower or Flower Blue, as she is known, was praised for her whimsical interpretations of animal and forest scenes executed in bold, bright colors. She studied in the 1930s at the Santa Fe Indian School under the tutelage of Dorothy Dunn, whose influence is quite apparent in her work as she created traditional two-dimensional scenes of animals and everyday pueblo life. However, she veered away from Dunn's more conservative interpretations of Native life with her use of color and fairytale-like creatures such as this pair of running deer.

Pop Chalee had her own style which has not been copied by other Native artists.  Her animals are lean and graceful and traditionally have long extended legs. These deer are typical of her style with their long extended legs.  Her colors in this painting are typical of her use of brighter blue and strong black. The foliage through which the deer are running is delicate and unreal.

The painting is signed in lower right.  It is not dated, but a tag affixed to verso states “circa 1943.”

Condition: this Taos Pueblo Original Painting of Running Deer appears to be in original condition

Provenance: from a Santa Fe family who is moving to their home in Colorado and had to sacrifice this and many other paintings.

Recommended Reading:  The World of Flower Blue by Margaret Cesa