I spent the morning with the most amazing art, amazing gallery, amazing location, amazing man I have ever seen. Although the man is dead, the gallery has many pictures and videos to bring him alive to the visitors. And there were many visitors. I arrived at 1000 when no one else was there. By 1200 when I left the parking lot and the gallery were packed.
The Man
(In the pictures of him I was sometimes reminded of Hemmingway and sometimes reminded of Fidel.)
Ettore DeGrazia was born in 1909 in the mining village of Morenci. His father worked in the copper mine there. He earned 3 degrees, including a Master of Arts with a thesis that explored the relationship of color and sound.
Many of his early paintings were published in Arizona Highways and his painting Los Ninos was chosen as a UNICEF greeting card that sold millions worldwide.
He traveled to Mexico City and worked with Diego Rivera and Jose Clemente Orozco.
In 1976 to protest inheritance taxes on works of art, Degrazia hauled about 100 of his paintings on horseback to the Superstition Mountains and set them on fire. This event was published in the Wall Street Journal and People Magazine.
He was also a musician, played several instruments and at one time led a big band.
He died in 1982 and is buried on the gallery property.
A self portrait
The Place
The DeGrazia Gallery in the Sun, which is on the National Register of Historic Places, is on a 10 acre plot of land in the foothills of Tucson's Santa Catalina Mountains. It was designed and built by DeGrazia to give his art a place to call and to feel at home. It is now funded and kept open (daily 10 a.m.-4 p.m., admission free) by the foundation and the sells from the gift shop.
Inside
Outside.
The entrance, which he designed and built, was fashioned after a mine door and entrance in remembrance of his boyhood days in the mining town.
A large part of the floor is made out of these sliced jumping cactus.
On the property is the Mission of the Sun which he built in 1952 to honor Father Kino. Inside is an alter where many people have left mementos of loved ones. There were several pictures and notes in remembrance of the recent Tucson injured and killed along with Senator Gifford.
Next to the mission are the artist's original home which he built and his grave site.
I LOVE this little house!!! I could so live in it!!!
His grave is mostly just a pile of rocks which I found interesting considering how beautiful and elaborate the gallery is.
This was near his grave. I am not sure what it is.
His Art
His work includes watercolors, oils (many done with a knife instead of brushes), ceramics, and sculptures.
Of course, these are just pictures of the art work and do not do it justice but will give you an idea. And they are only a few. The real amount is staggering.
I love the simplicity, the repetition and the flow of his work.
This is one of the few of his paintings that have faces.
This was a metal sculpture in a doorway.
He painted a lot about the Mexican people, Native Americans, angels, children and horses.
He made masks,
And crowns,
He sometimes painted while listening to classical music and named the painting after whatever he had been listening to.
I visited this gallery because I happened upon the brochure and it looked a little different from the run of the mill tourist stuff which I do not have much interest in. I was so pleasantly surprised. It is on the top of my list.
www.degrazia.org
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