Highlights from the Permanent Collection: The Watercolor Landscapes of Pierre Daura

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Pierre Daura (Catalan-American, 1896-1976), Mabry Mill (detail), 1955-70, watercolor on paper, Taubman Museum of Art, Gift of Martha Randolph Daura, 2003.048
This gallery highlights the Catalan-American artist Pierre Daura’s practice with a focus on his watercolor landscapes.

Born in 1896 on the island of Menorca, Daura was a Catalan-American artist who painted in both Europe and America. He met his wife, Louise Heron Blair, in Paris in 1927. A native of Richmond, Virginia, she was studying art with Daura in Paris at the time; they married just a year later.

In late 1929, Daura became involved in the founding of Cercle et Carré (“Circle and Square”), an artist’s group that had a large impact on his continued focus on abstraction.

The Daura family relocated to Virginia in the 1940s, retreating from war-torn Europe. In Virginia, Daura taught art, first at Lynchburg College, where he chaired the art department, and then at Randolph-Macon Women’s College (later Randolph College).

Daura died on January 1, 1976, and was buried alongside his wife in Rockbridge Baths, Virginia.

In 2003, the artist’s daughter, Martha Randolph Daura, generously gifted the Taubman Museum of Art a large collection of works by her father, including watercolor and oil paintings of portraits, French and Virginian landscapes, and still lifes.

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Highlights from the Permanent Collection: The Watercolor Landscapes of Pierre Daura is on view in Selections from the Permanent Collection 1850-1950 in the Medical Facilities of America Gallery and Gallery II. It was curated by Madeline Lenahan during the 2024-2025 Taubman Museum of Art Fellowship.

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Pierre Daura (Catalan-American, 1896-1976), Place du Carol, St. Cirq Lapopie, 1955-1971, oil on canvas, Taubman Museum of Art, Gift of Martha Randolph Daura, 2003.052

Pierre Daura (Catalan-American, 1896-1976), Mohler Farm in Snow, Rockbridge Baths, 1941, watercolor on paper, Taubman Museum of Art; Gift of Martha Randolph Daura, 2003.051

Pierre Daura (Catalan-American, 1896-1976), Breton House, St. Cirq Lapopie,1955-1971, watercolor on paper, Taubman Museum of Art, Gift of Martha Randolph Daura, 2003.053

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