H undreds of mid-century works unseen for decade were recently discovered in a Scottsdale home that sat vacant for years after the passing of the husband and wife artists who owned it. “By chance, I stumbled upon this sanctuary of Scottsdale art royalty and was stunned at the massive body of beautiful works,” said neighbor Liz Boyle. Now the public will have a chance to view the discovery as neighbors in the Historic District of Scottsdale’s Villa Monterey will display the works from what they call “The Art House.” The free showing will run 1-7 p.m. Thursday, April 24, at their clubhouse at 7667 E. Northland Drive, Scottsdale. As a Scottsdale native and small-time collector of mid-20th century Scottsdale artists, Boyle said she immediately “recognized the importance of the collection.” “I’m a neighbor, and while chatting with the home’s caretaker outside one day, he mentioned the names of the deceased artists,” she said. “I gasped, and upon my recognition, he ushered me into a home packed with art, trails leading from one vast body of work to another.” A clearing in the living room is where artist Jessie Benton Evans Gray spent her final days surrounded by her late husband’s masterworks, his large self-portrait at the foot of her bed. “When the caretaker mentioned Jessie Benton Evans Gray, I was thrilled,” Boyle said. “She and her great-grandmother, Jessie Benton Evans, were Scottsdale art royalty. I had coveted their works for years, but they were out of my price range. “When I learned more about Jessie’s artist husband Don Gray, I realized the body of work, unseen for decades, was even more significant than I imagined. I knew I had to help in getting this important collection the attention it deserves.” Jessie grew up in the 1940s and 50s at the foot of Camelback Mountain, walking distance to her great-grandmother’s Italianesque villa, The Jokake Inn. “Mother Evans,” as Frank Lloyd Wright addressed the senior Evans, was the most significant female artist during Scottsdale’s earliest days. Jessie started painting with her great-grandmother as a small child. Both Arizona natives, young Jessie and her husband Don Gray moved to New York City in the early 1960s. In a cramped walk-up apartment in Greenwich Village, Jessie and Don pursued their careers in art. Don met East Village collector Arthur Kouwenhoven, a designer for Maison Jansen, the Parisian design firm favored by Jacqueline Kennedy. Kouwenhoven arranged for Gray’s work to be featured at New York’s famed Winter show in 1965, which introduced Gray’s art to a number of sophisticated and international art collectors. Don Gray said his first big break came in 1965, when Domino Sugar heir Frederick C. Havemeyer saw one of his works at the Vanderbilt Estate, and became a collector and benefactor. That winter, Havemeyer featured Gray’s works in the nationwide exhibition of her collection. “The critics loved him, he had glowing write-ups from The Christian Science Monitor, The Philadelphia Enquirer, and Art News among others,” Boyle said, adding that the New York Times praised Gray’s, “compelling intensity” and that author Kurt Vonnegut was a fan. Upon Jessie’s death in 2017, the Grays’ heirs found the house packed with the art of Don Gray and Jessie Benton Evans Gray, where it sat undisturbed for years. “I feel like I was destined to walk into that house that day; it felt like a sacred experience. Since then, I’ve been compelled to get both these artists’ life’s work shown and appreciated, for the first time in decades,” said Boyle.
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