Leyendas (1963-1965)
Museum-Gallery Collection
It was in the summer of 1963 that Ary gave up gouaches for the most part and embarked on a series of exciting canvases, which he called "Leyendas" (Legends). They had marvelous movement and each represented a world of fantasy —a pagan world, but permeated with glimpses of Egyptian, Byzantine, Coptic, Italian — every kind of culture, which had intrigued him during his lifetime. Manny Greer of the Greer Galleries in New York came down to Mexico that summer and paid a visit to Ary and his wife, Frances. He was wildly enthusiastic about the new canvases. He said he had been combing the studios of Mexican painters and here, in the studio of a veteran American painter, he found the essence of pre-Columbian Mexico that the others lacked. But Ary was adamant about not exhibiting. He had strength only to paint, he said. To be involved in exhibiting would drain too much of the precious store of energy.
c. 1963-1965,
acrylic on canvas,
19 1/8 x 25 1/8 in.,
[Museum Collection]
1963,
acrylic on canvas,
16 1/2 x 22 1/2 in.,
[Museum Collection]
