Taos Pueblo - Pop Chalee Painting of Three Leaping Deer

This painting featuring Three Leaping Deer is a wonderful example of the distinctive and uncopied style of Taos Pueblo artist Pop Chalee (1906-1993) Blue Flower. Pop Chalee was widely praised for her whimsical, fairytale-like interpretations of animals and forest scenes.

The three leaping deer are rendered in her characteristic style: lean, graceful, and traditional with long, extended legs. They are outlined in black and painted in three different shades of tan, giving the figures visual depth.

Following the tradition of the Santa Fe Indian School (where she studied in the 1930s under Dorothy Dunn), the painting features no ground plane or backdrop, maintaining a simple, two-dimensional focus. Decoration is sparse, limited to a single flowering plant in the lower left and a half-circle in the upper right, which may be interpreted as her vision of the moon.

While Pop Chalee's work clearly shows the influence of Dorothy Dunn's methods — creating traditional two-dimensional scenes of animals and Pueblo life — she consciously veered away from the school's more conservative interpretations. She used bold, bright colors and painted creatures that are often more imaginative and ethereal than strictly realistic, as demonstrated by the graceful, elongated forms of these deer.

The painting is signed by the artist in the lower right corner.

Pop Chalee was a highly successful artist, particularly known for her large-scale murals. She was commissioned to create murals for prominent locations nationwide, including Marshall Field's in Chicago, the Santa Fe Railroad Ticket Office, the New Mexico State Capitol Building, the Albuquerque International Airport (where two of her large paintings are still displayed), and the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island.

One of her most notable and accessible works is part of the iconic mural commissioned for Maisel's Gallery on Central Avenue in downtown Albuquerque. In this significant collaborative piece, she worked alongside other renowned artists, including Harrison Begay, Awa Tsireh, Joe Herrera, and Pablita Velarde.

Condition: very good condition

Provenance: this Taos Pueblo - Pop Chalee Painting of Three Leaping Deer is from the collection of a Client to whom we sold this in 2012.

Recommended Reading: The World of Flower Blue by Margaret Cesa

TAGS: Taos Pueblo, Santa Fe, New Mexico, Native American Painting, Merina Lujan, Pop Chalee