Ettore DeGrazia

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Ettore "Ted" DeGrazia (June 14, 1909-1990), painter, painter, composer, producer, engineer, jeweler, and lithographer.

DeGrazia is best known for his colorful photographs of Native American children of the American Southwest and other Western scenes, and he's been described as "the world's most reproduced artist."

Besides, DeGrazia created a number of exhibits, including the Papago Legends, Padre Kino, Cabeza de Vaca.

Education

DeGrazia boarded a ride and headed for Tucson, with almost no possessions. He enrolled at the University of Arizona in 1933 with fifteen dollars in his pocket. In order to pay for his classes, he played his trumpet at night and landscaped at the University of Arizona during the day. He studied art history and obtained his first bachelor's degree in Art Education. Fine Arts was his second bachelor's degree. In 1945, DeGrazia went back to school to earn a master's degree in Art Education.

DeGrazia met Alexandra Diamos while attending classes at the University of Arizona in 1936, and the pair married in the same year. Her father was a businessman who owned several of Southern Arizona's largest movie theaters. The Lyric theatre, which is located in Bisbee, Arizona, was one of his enterprises. Alexandra and DeGrazia moved to Bisbee, where he supervised his father-in-law's theatre. Lucia Anite, Nicholas Domenic, and Kathleen Louise were three children of the couple's three children.

Despite DeGrazia's income, he wasn't happy with this work. Any money he could save went to art supplies. If he had a little more time, he'd returned to his art. He was on the lookout, trying to find his own style. DeGrazia's photographs were first published in the Arizona Highways magazine in 1941. He met many other well-known and soon-to-be famous artists. DeGrazia's journey from 1942 to Mexico City brought him Diego Rivera, Mexico's master muralist, to Mexico City. Rivera was captivated by DeGrazia's artistic skills and agreed to work with him as an apprentice. At the Palacio Nacional and the Hospital de Jesus, DeGrazia assisted Rivera with murals. During his apprenticeship, DeGrazia worked with José Clemente Orozco. At the Palace of Fine Art in Mexico City in 1942, the two Mexican masters sponsored an exhibition of DeGrazia's paintings. During this period, America was enforcing the draft for WWII. Rivera wrote a letter to the US government urging DeGrazia to complete his apprenticeship and keep him out of service.

In 1942, the two artists sponsored an exhibit of his paintings at Palacio de Bellas Artes, and DeGrazia was also included in Mexico City's 'Hoy's Magazine. This was supposed to be DeGrazia's first big exhibition.

DeGrazia returned to the University of Arizona, where she worked under Katherine Kitt. DeGrazia was recruited by Lou Witzeman, editor and chief of the University of Arizona, for a mural project in exchange for the cost of art supplies for the project. Witzeman gave him the freedom to paint whatever subject he wanted in a portion of the Old Main building, which is located in the heart of campus. DeGrazia wanted to create a politically based mural since his apprenticeship under the Diego Rivera two years ago. "Power of the Press" was the mural's title.

An article about this mural was written by a writer for the Arizona Daily Wildcat newspaper. An artist lying on his back atop scaffolding is surrounded by two tequila bottles of paint, turpentine, and tequila." It's the spring of 1944 and American GIs are fighting the axis powers in the world war. The artist strokes his brush on the wall about two stories tall and 15 feet wide before a mural emerges. The artist pieces together his puzzle at night. The shades are dark, as are the images. The cinder block canvas is filled with skullboards, mortarboards, books, and the apocalypse. His mural depicts "skulls topped with mortar boards peering at an open hand holding the fire of knowledge emerging from a pile of books. The skulls represent people who are looking for knowledge. Half-machine Half-skeleton figures resides atop the four horses of the apocalypse, gypsing over the mask of happiness. The mask of tragedy remains unveiled. The figure holds the World in its right hand; a long sheet marked "News" appears on its shoulder. Six skeletons donning graduated robes stand in the far-left corner, while a trio of a skeletal hand hangs by their necks as the four horseman gallop over snakes slithering through books."

DeGrazia was a student who resisted against commercialism in education. Universities were becoming too politici, clumsy, and corporate-minded, according to him. The mural in DeGrazia depicted the lives of those who were killed in World War II and how company interests drove the educational system, not the educators.

The University's arts department said they did not have permission for Witzeman and DeGrazia to paint the mural on campus property. "Someone came in with five gallons of whitewash and covered it up during the summer, when the majority of us were in blissful ignorance," Witzeman said. It was awful." The only evidence that the mural once existed are in the memories from family and friends, one oil on canvas, and one painting by DeGrazia – a small excerpt from the original mural on display and on display at the DeGrazia Gallery in the Sun.

DeGrazia's Master's Thesis was completed in 1945 with a sixty-page paper titled: "Art and Its Relationship to Music Education." "The aim of this thesis is to establish an analogy between music and abstract painting, demonstrating the connection between music and painting by introducing a technique in which music can better be understood and appreciated by projection of its moods and emotions into another dimension."

The 'Color Machine,' DeGrazia's thesis, was used to determine the various levels of tone and pitch when music was played. 'Color Music Pattern Test' was assigned specific emotions, shapes, and colors by DeGrazia. Over 350 students at the University of Arizona were given the opportunity. He made each student listen to classical music, including Stravinsky's Nightingale and Beethoven's Symphony#8. He would suspend the music at certain intervals and ask each student what colors and shapes they liked. They would then draw what shapes they had imagined.

Several of the students who were given the Color Music Pattern Test are included in the DeGrazia Foundation's archives. They were initially unsure how they would be able to see shapes and colors. However, the more they listened to the symphonies, the more the shapes and colors came to life in their minds. They could literally'see the music.' DeGrazia created a series of abstract paintings based on the findings of these psychological, audio, and experimental experiments. DeGrazia was able to 'paint' these symphonies from the information the students had given him, which was astounding. They are abstract wonders of line, shape, and color. This extraordinary Master's Thesis is part of the Gallery In The Sun's permanent collection.

The University of Arizona gave DeGrazia the Alumni Achievement Award for his art and his affiliation with the University in 1967.

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Art career: early years

DeGrazia recalled well the criticism he received in those early days from people who believed that his art wasn't strong enough. Individuals did not like how DeGrazia followed his own rules in terms of art. On one occasion, DeGrazia was in Rosita's Mexican restaurant (located next to his gallery), when a man stepped in and yelled to him from across the room.

He said," Hey!

You DeGrazia?!"

DeGrazia did not respond and continued to talk to his friend. The man, who evidently did not like DeGrazia, strode over to DeGrazia's table and interrupted him. "You're the guy who says you can paint whatever you want," DeGrazia said. There are no rules, you just do whatever you want!" DeGrazia did not say anything at the time. DeGrazia took one out and started painting it, since there was a basket of tortillas on the table. He brushed his brush with the angry man's clean, white shirt as he finished. The only thing DeGrazia said to him was "Now I have painted on everything" before the man stormed out, cursing at DeGrazia. The man didn't bother to bring his original tortilla painting with him, so DeGrazia saved it and it's also on display at the Gallery In the Sun.

DeGrazia and Alexandra were divorced in 1946. Marion Sheret was married in a small chapel deep in Mexico's jungles a year ago. The Gallery In the Sun was opened to celebrate his greatest achievement, Marion's marriage.

Tucson's gallery began encroaching in the late twenties. With so many people moving to Tucson, he felt crowded, and he wanted to stop the city from expanding. He purchased ten acres of property in the Santa Catalina Foothills, north of Tucson, in 1949. There was no electricity, water, or services at that time. All of the items that they needed had to be shipped from Tucson. They cooked their food in an old wood-burning oven and then took showers outside with water from a bucket. Construction companies began to bulldoze the huge sabdom cacti around him, resulting in the construction of homes, businesses, and even a country club. This saddened DeGrazia.

Art career: later years

DeGrazia was able to start constructing his dream gallery, the DeGrazia Gallery in the Sun, once he had his house and his Little Gallery. DeGrazia built the Mission in the Sun, his house, and his original 'Little Gallery' (was first gallery on site) along the Swan and Skyline roads. The DeGrazia Gallery in the Sun was finished in 1965, with the help of Yaqui and Tohono O'odham colleagues. Original artwork is on display in this main gallery. DeGrazia never stopped painting during this period. He started serious ceramics work in the 1950s. This is when he perfected his copper-based glaze. These ceramics were made in the United States by NBC studios, who called the show 'Watch the World,' where they filmed DeGrazia and Marion making these ceramics.

Marion DeGrazia's wife recalled this period as "all work and no play." "When prospecting for gold, or with the Indians in Arizona and Mexico, the only time for restraint away from the studio was on the trail in the Superstition Mountains." He declined to attend a show in Cannes, France, when invited to attend a show. He needed to be in India," the only place he wanted to be was in India. "I was born in the southwest and live there, I live it with a passion." As if it were alive, the state has a sarcastic temperament. It's rough, colorless, and silent. And yet, the skies roar, the cactus of the desert in its prickly silence bursts forth for a moment of glorious splendor.

Lee Garmes, Vincent Price, Iron Eyes Cody, Namara Traviata, Alan Hale, Jr., Navajo musicians Harrison and Robert Chee, Antonio Hart Benton, Olaf Wieghorst, Jack Van Ryder, Ross Santee, and Broderick Crawford of the t.v. a series of Highway Patrols.

DeGrazia's big break came in 1960. UNICEF has requested that UNICEF use his photograph of Los Ninos, an oil painting, to create greeting cards. Many millions were sold around the world, giving DeGrazia the honour of the world's most reproduced artist. During this period, DeGrazia's fame and success soared.

DeGrazia took part in a strike against the Federal Inheritance Tax in 1976. The artist said the Internal Revenue Service made him "a millionaire on paper," but my heirs will have to pay taxes for which there is no money." DeGrazia rode horseback through the Superstition Mountains and lit about 100 of his works, a total value of 1.5 million dollars at the time.

DeGrazia's only way to escape this significant government levy was to make his Gallery In the Sun a non-profit charity. In this way, he was able to save his collection while also his fortune.

DeGrazia died of cancer on September 17, at the age of 73. In 2006, his beloved Gallery In the Sun was listed on the National Historic Registry as a historic district.

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