PIERRE: Serving as an autobiographical, incredibly tender catalogue of his personal life, the works of Catalan-American artist Pierre Daura portray his deepest relationships, his most significant turning points and his greatest inspirations. Currently on view at the Georgia Museum of Art, “Pierre Daura (1896–1976): Picturing Attachments” showcases a diverse array of portraits that the artist painted of his two primary muses: his wife, Louise Heron Blair, and his daughter, Martha Randolph Daura.
Spanning Daura’s entire career, “Picturing Attachments” gives an interesting glimpse into the process of aging and growth—depicting Martha as a toddler at the kitchen table, as a teenager wearing a graduation gown and as a fully grown woman—as well as the shifting dynamics among family members, such as the maternal bond between Louise and infant Martha that matures into equality as Martha enters her 30s.
Daura’s body of work creates a chronological timeline reflecting major events in the family’s life. He studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Barcelona, training under Pablo Picasso’s father, José Ruiz Blasco. In the late ‘20s, Daura moved to Paris, where he co-founded Cercle et Carré—the circle of abstract artists (including Piet Mondrian and Wassily Kandinsky) formed in opposition to Surrealism, and for which GMOA held an exhibition in October 2013—and later met his American wife. Both this experimentation in technique and his fascination with Louise are evident in his works. In the late ‘30s, he served in the Republican militia but was injured and medically discharged, leading to his Spanish citizenship being revoked by the victorious Franco government and to a large body of work inspired by the brutality of war. The family moved back and forth to Virginia, where Daura briefly taught at Lynchburg College and Randolph-Macon Woman’s College, and these serene rural landscapes are also present.
The complementary exhibit “Small Truths: Pierre Daura’s Life and Vision,” curated by Lynn Boland, GMOA’s Pierre Daura Curator of European Art, provides context for the larger exhibit through a collection of paintings, drawings, engravings and sculptures selected from of Daura’s career. The works are drawn from a donation of over 600 works gifted to the museum by the artist’s daughter, Martha Randolph Daura, who also donated the artist’s archive and an endowment to support a curator and the Pierre Daura Center, which was established at GMOA in 2002.
On Saturday, Mar. 21 from 10 a.m.–12 p.m., the museum will host Family Day: Picturing Attachments, in which children can learn about the exhibit through interactive stations, then create their own Daura-inspired pieces.
On Thursday, Apr. 9 at 5:30 p.m., Dr. Adelheid M. Gealt, who served as both the curator of “Picturing Attachments” and the author of its accompanying catalogue, will present a lecture comparing Daura’s approach to portraying his family visually with the approach of other artists. Both “Picturing Attachments” and “Small Truths” will remain on view through Sunday, Apr. 19.
Piero Lerda
PIERO: Influenced by the violence he witnessed while growing up during World War II, experimental Italian artist Piero Lerda created mixed-media works that reflect his personal beliefs in existentialism and the dichotomies between chaos and order, beginnings and endings and good and evil. “Chaos & Metamorphosis: The Art of Piero Lerda,” currently on view at GMOA through Sunday, May 10, showcases a cross-section of his different approaches and styles.
A collection of “kite” and “merry-go-round city” paintings weave childlike imagery into vibrant and playful geometric constructions, but on closer inspection the sharp edges and warplane-like silhouettes suggest an illusion of optimism and a much darker reality. Another group of works uses India ink and wax-resist to depict violent scenes in which humans are hunted and trapped. His final series, marking the final two decades of his life, appear as colorful abstract collages made from cut paper, corrugated cardboard and paint that mimic the disorder and unpredictability of creation and destruction.
“Chaos & Metamorphosis” is the first exhibition of Lerda’s work to be presented in the U.S., and his wife, Valeria Gennaro Lerda, who attended UGA on a Fulbright Scholarship in the ‘70s, played an essential role in bringing the collection to the museum’s walls.
Laura Valeri, associate curator of European art, will lead a free tour of the exhibit on Wednesday, Mar. 18 at 2 p.m. During Teen Studio: Piero Lerda on Thursday, Apr. 9 from 5:30–8:30 p.m., teens can tour the exhibit, eat pizza and create mixed-media pieces in a workshop led by Kristen Bach of Treehouse Kid & Craft. The exhibitions for both Lerda and Daura will be highlighted during the museum’s quarterly reception, 90 Carlton: Spring on Friday, Apr. 10 from 6–9 p.m., which will unveil the “Master of Fine Arts Degree Candidates Exhibition,” presenting the works of 19 emerging artists from the Lamar Dodd School of Art.
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