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Ted De Grazia
Ted De Grazia was an American
impressionist, western-pop painter,
sculptor, and lithographer. Self-described
as "the world's most reproduced artist",
DeGrazia is known for his pastel images of
Native American children of the American
Southwest and other Western scenes.
In the early 1940s he studied under Diego
Rivera and José Clemente Orozco, assisting
with murals at the Palacio Nacional and the
Hospital de Jesus. The two artists
sponsored an exhibit of his paintings at
Palacio de Bellas Artes and the young artist
was featured in Mexico City's Hoy
Magazine. He returned to the University of
Arizona, studying under Katherine Kitt
where he received degrees in art and
music.
DeGrazia's work first appeared in Arizona
Highways magazine in 1941. His designs
have appeared on lithographs, collector
plates, greeting cards, and in a series of
Goebel figurines made by the same
company that is famous for its Hummel
figurines.
In 1976, Degrazia engaged in a protest
against inheritance taxes based on
assessed market values of his work. The
artist claimed the U.S. Internal Revenue
Service rulings made him "a millionaire on
paper and my heirs will have to pay taxes
for which there is no money." In his well-
publicized protest, Degrazia rode
horseback into the Superstition Mountains
and burned 100 of his paintings.
http://degrazia.org
The Wild Stampede
$200
print
24w x 16h
framed