THE ART

Free as the Wind, 1961
“This painting combines some of Ted DeGrazia’s favorite themes with his dynamic work with a palette knife,” says Jim Jenkins, curator of the Gallery in the Sun. “Here, he conveys the motion and speed of four running horses.”

 

Apache Devil Dancers, 1949
“DeGrazia was fascinated by the ceremonial dances and costumes of the different Native cultures of the region,” Jenkins says. “These lively, masked Apache dancers became a recurring subject, and he painted and sculpted them several times.”

 

Third Class Bus, 1944
This bus is a recurring theme, Jenkins notes: “An old, jalopy-like bus — in profile, overloaded with passengers and headed from right to left — appears more than a dozen times throughout DeGrazia’s career.” Other pieces carried titles such as Bus, Mexican Bus and Nogales Bus.

 

Ranch in the Desert, 1951
Long shadows stretch across a colorful desert landscape in this watercolor painting. Jenkins notes that behind the distant ranch houses, the mountains are bathed in golden light.

 

Road Runner, 1960
“The roadrunner became one of the best-known desert icons of DeGrazia’s art,” Jenkins says. “It’s usually depicted as this one is: in profile, and running at full speed.”

 

 

Ink drawings, various dates
Mariachis, miners and a saguaro fruit harvest were the subjects of these simple drawings from the 1950s and ’60s.

 

Desert Landscape, undated
“This simple painting of a solitary yucca conveys the deep sense of space in a vast, barren desert,” Jenkins says.

 

Jungle Cart, circa 1947
DeGrazia’s 1947 trip to Tehuantepec, a city in Oaxaca, Mexico, inspired a series of watercolor paintings, including this tropical scene with a Mexican ox cart.

 

Rodeo Intermission, 1954
This piece was part of a 1954 series inspired by the tribal rodeo in Sells, a town on the Tohono O’odham Nation. It depicts a group of rodeo cowboys between events.

 

Mexican Night Club, 1953
“DeGrazia was an accomplished musician and bandleader,” Jenkins says, “and he enjoyed painting musicians, most notably mariachis. He created dozens of mariachi paintings, but the couple in this painting is the only mariachi audience he ever depicted.”

 

Navajo Riding Song, 1961
Also known as Night Chant, this painting, which first appeared in our August 1967 issue, shows five Navajo riders singing or chanting as they move slowly through the desert under a starry sky. “They seem to have a mysterious inner glow,” Jenkins notes.