Ila Mae McAfee explained

Ila McAfee
Birth Date:27 October 1897
Birth Place:Gunnison, Colorado, US
Death Place:Pueblo, Colorado, US
Resting Place:Santa Fe National Cemetery
Alma Mater:Western State Colorado University
National Academy of Design
Art Institute of Chicago
Known For:Painting
Spouse:Elmer Turner

Ila Mae McAfee (October 21, 1897[1] or 1900[2] – April 18, 1995), also known as Ila McAfee Turner, was an American painter, muralist, illustrator and author. She was born in or near Gunnison, Colorado and known for her miniatures and as an animalier and muralist. She is best remembered for her paintings of horses, Western themes, landscapes, and portraits of Pueblos.

Education and career

McAfee studied at Western State Colorado College, at the Art Students League, the National Academy of Design[3] and with James E. McBurney in Chicago.

During the Depression McAfee created post office murals through the Section of Painting and Sculpture in Gunnison, Colorado,[4] Clifton, Texas,[5] Cordell, Oklahoma[6] and Edmond, Oklahoma.[7] As a tribute to her mother-in-law, Edith Turner, McAfee presented three murals to the public library of Greeley, Colorado, where Mrs. Turner had served as Assistant Librarian for many years.[8]

McAfee was the author and illustrator of Indians, Horses, Hills, Et Cetera[9] and the illustrator for Historic Costume: A Resume of Style and Fashion From Remote Times to the Nineteen Seventies by Katherine Morris Lester.[10]

Personal life

Ila met her husband, painter Elmer Page Turner, when they were both art students in Chicago.[11] They were married in 1926 and moved to Taos, New Mexico in 1928.[12]

Recognition

In 1981 she was designated Taos Artist of the Year.[13]

Notes and References

  1. Petteys, Chris, "Dictionary of Women Artists: An international dictionary of women artists born before 1900", G.K. Hall & Co., Boston, 1985
  2. Gilbert, Dorothy B., ed., Who's Who in American Art, The American Federation of Arts, R.R. Bowker Company, NY 1963
  3. Heller, Jules and Nancy G, Heller, ed., "North American Women Artists of the Twentieth Century: A Biographical Dictionary" Garland Reference Library of the Humanities (Vol. 1219), Garland Publishing Company, New York & London, 1995
  4. Web site: Post Office Mural – Gunnison CO . Living New Deal. 2016-03-21.
  5. Web site: Post Office Mural – Clifton TX. Living New Deal . 2016-03-21.
  6. Web site: Post Office Mural – Cordell OK . Living New Deal . 2016-03-21.
  7. Web site: Municipal Courthouse Mural – Edmond OK. Living New Deal . 2016-03-21.
  8. Book: Nelson. Mary Carroll. The Legendary Artists of Taos. 1980. Watson-Guptill Publications. New York. 0823027457. 140.
  9. Book: Indians, Horses, Hills, Et Cetera. LibraryThing.com. 7 March 2016.
  10. Book: Historic Costume: A Resume of Style and Fashion From Remote Times to the Nineteen-Seventies by Katherine Morris Lester. LibraryThing.com. 7 March 2016.
  11. Book: McAfee. Ila. Indians, Horses, Hills, Et Cetera. 1981. Ila McAfee. Taos, NM.
  12. Book: Porter. Dean. Taos artists and their patrons, 1898-1950. 1999. Snite Museum of Art. Notre Dame, Indiana. 0826321097. 377.
  13. Book: Kovinick. Phil. Yoshiki-Kovinick. Marian. An Encyclopedia of Women Artists. 1998. University of Texas Press. Austin. 0292790635. 209.