Artist Ettore "Ted" DeGrazia, 1909-1982, was born in Morenci, Ariz., to Italian immigrants. He was educated at the University of Arizona. He and wife Marion bought 10-acres in the Catalina Foothills north of Tucson and built the Gallery in the Sun.
The latest exhibit at Gallery in the Sun highlights "DeGrazia's Chickens." More info:
Ted DeGrazia / Gallery in the Sun
In this July, 1964 photo, artist Ted DeGrazia, who learned his mural techniques from the Mexican masters Diego Rivera and Jose Orozco, looks at his first mural in mosaic, a 96-square-foot scene depicting medicine men healing the sick. It was commissioned by Sherwood Medical Terrace office building at 8230 E. Broadway Road.
Ted DeGrazia
Tucson artist Ted DeGrazia in April, 1960, next to "Los Niños," which was chosen as the official Christmas card by UNICEF in 1960.
Ted DeGrazia
Ted DeGrazia in Italy when he was about 12 years old.
Ted DeGrazia
Ted DeGrazia, left, and other family members taken around 1924 in Italy.
Ted DeGrazia
Ted DeGrazia circa 1935
Ted DeGrazia
Ted DeGrazia, far right, leads his band in the early 1930s. Money earned from the band's gigs helped pay DeGrazia's way through the University of Arizona.
Ted DeGrazia
Ted DeGrazia, and wife, Marion, in the late 1940s outside his studio at North Campbell Avenue and East Prince Road.
Ted DeGrazia
Undated photo of Tucson artist Ted DeGrazia
Ted DeGrazia
In the early 1950s, Ted DeGrazia began building his Mission in the Sun, part of what is now his Gallery in the Sun on North Swan Road.
Ted DeGrazia
In 1952, Ted DeGrazia built the Mission in the Sun as the first building constructed on the property in memory of Padre Eusebio Kino, a Jesuit priest, and dedicated the mission to Our Lady of Guadalupe.
Ted DeGrazia
Children emerge from DeGrazia Mission in the Sun north of Tucson during Las Posadas procession in the 1960s.
Ted DeGrazia
Ted and Marion hugging: Ted and Marion DeGrazia outside his Gallery in the Sun, sometime in the early 1970s.
Ted DeGrazia
Ted with cigarette: Ted DeGrazia liked to promote a somewhat renegade image from time to time, as in this photo taken around 1970.
Ted DeGrazia
Tucson artist Ted DeGrazia with Judith Whittington in 1965.
Ted DeGrazia
Tucson artist Ted DeGrazia at work in 1962.
Ted DeGrazia
Academy Award-winning actor Broderick Crawford with Tucson artist Ted DeGrazia in 1966.
Ted DeGrazia
Tucson artist Ted DeGrazia harvesting prickly pear cactus in 1962,
Ted DeGrazia / Gallery in the Sun
Artist's studio adjacent to the home of Ted DeGrazia in Tucson, shown in 1964.
Ted DeGrazia / Gallery in the Sun
Fireplace and with beaded screen in the main room of the Ted DeGrazia home, photographed in 1964.
Ted DeGrazia / Gallery in the Sun
Guest cottage at Ted DeGrazia's home in Tucson, shown in 1964.
Ted DeGrazia / Gallery in the Sun
Inlayed concrete floors and textured walls in the DeGrazia's Gallery in the Sun, shown in 1966.
Ted DeGrazia / Gallery in the Sun
Exterior of DeGrazia's Gallery in the Sun in 1966.
Ted DeGrazia / Gallery in the Sun
Entrance to DeGrazia's Gallery in the Sun, shown in 1966, was designed to look like a mine shaft with heavy timbers and shored rock walls.
Ted DeGrazia / Gallery in the Sun
Artist Ted DeGrazia signs the sketch of an angel for six-year-old Dora Jones of Chinle, a patient at the Special Neurology Clinic in Tucson, on Dec. 20, 1969.
Ted DeGrazia / Gallery in the Sun
Artist Ted DeGrazia, left, an art director on a film about himself, takes direction from Joel Harrison in August, 1966.
Ted DeGrazia / Gallery in the Sun
Artist Ted DeGrazia at the Gallery in the Sun on Swan Road north of Tucson on Aug. 24, 1966.
Ted DeGrazia
DeGrazia with his 1957 oil painting "Los Niños", which was a best-selling UNICEF card in 1960.
Ted DeGrazia
Tucson artist Ted DeGrazia in 1972.
Ted DeGrazia
Ted DeGrazia, shirtless, looking into the distrance, pensive: Ted DeGrazia, looking somewhat pensive, in the early 1970s.
Rick Wiley
Photo editor
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