An exhibition of work by Catalan-American artist Pierre Daura will open at the Suffolk Museum on Dec. 6. The exhibition, Virginia Landscapes: Watercolors by Pierre Daura, on loan from the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond, will be on display through Jan. 23, 2004.

Included in the exhibition are twenty-four selected works of landscapes executed during the period 1940 – 70. It was during that time that Daura began the first of what would be a life-long series of oils, watercolors, and temperas, depicting the Blue Ridge region of Virginia. Virginia reminded Daura in some ways of places in the Lot Valley in France, but in others impressed him as being &uot;grandiose as nothing I have ever known.&uot;

The works demonstrate Daura’s deep involvement with the rural scene in all its aspects – such simple tasks as burning brush and plowing; houses, outbuildings and livestock of neighboring farms; moods of the changing seasons; and the landscape itself – country roads, woodlands, and the majestic presence of Jump and Horse mountains. These motifs he painted over and over, in works which speak of a land of comfortable rusticity and an artist’s commemoration of the bounty of nature. Pierre Daura saw his landscape paintings as, &uot;an important contribution to help people discover the beauty of their land…to inspire men with a love for their native soil.&uot;

The exhibition Virginia Landscapes: Watercolors by Pierre Daura is circulated through the Statewide Exhibitions Program, Office of Statewide Partnerships, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts.

The works are on loan to the Museum from the Daura Gallery at Lynchburg College in Lynchburg, Virginia. Funding for the exhibition was provided by Lynchburg College and The Council of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts.