Original Painting Entitled “Doe and Fawn” [SOLD]

Special Value Offer: The owner of this painting has authorized a 1/3rd price reduction from the original price of $750 to a new price of $500.

In 1939, architect John Gaw Meem commissioned a number of Native artists to paint murals on a building he designed for the Maisel Company in Albuquerque.  Popovi Da, Pablita Velarde and Pop Chalee painted northern Pueblo subjects, while Ben Quintana, Ku-Pe-Ru and Joe H. Herrera did Keres motifs.  Other Indians painted subjects from their tribal affiliation.  Ku-Pe-Ru painted a Corn Dancer.  The building still exists in downtown Albuquerque and the murals are still visible and in excellent condition.

Today, Ku Pe Ru predominately paints prehistoric motifs from rock art. This tender scene of a doe nudging its mom is his departure from the style of this later career.  This one is dated 1946 and was, perhaps, his style at the time.  Both fawn and doe were rendered in realistic image, traditional to the students of the Santa Fe Indian School, of which he was a student. Suina has the Indian sense of color which is usually unerring.  Like many of his contemporaries, he has used colored and textured papers and painted in tempera.

On the back of the painting are the following hand written notations:  By Theodore Suina, Cochiti Pueblo, Pena Blanca, N. Mex. “Doe and Fawn” 2^nd Prize N. M. State Fair 46. Rubber stamped is the following: Pueblo Indian Arts and Crafts …

The mat and backing materials have been replaced with acid-free materials and the painting then placed back in the original blond wood frame.  Notations on verso are visible.

Condition: the pink color of the paper has faded slightly to a soft buff color

Reference and Recommended Reading:  American Indian Painting of the Southwest and Plains Areas by Dorothy Dunn.  This book is currently not available from Adobe Gallery.

Provenance: from the collection of a gentleman from Chicago.  Formerly from the estate of Baseball Maverick Bill Veeck, purchased when he had a ranch in New Mexico in the 1950s.