From Spain to Virginia The Life and Times of Pierre Daura - Catalog - Page 39
In contrast to the cloistered village scenes of
Saint-Cirq-Lapopie, the Virginia countryside
consistently presents more distant horizons
and deeper spatial expansiveness. In the
oil on canvas Golden Field and House
Mountains, Rockbridge Baths of 1951-1971,
a radiating and linear pattern of paint marks
creates a foreground field of honey-colored
grasses – possibly a grain crop already
matured and ready for late summer harvest.
The crisscrossed brushstrokes in this passage
are echoed above in a sky of pink and white
that also trace the zigzagging horizon line
of Blue Ridge mountain peaks in the scenic
distance. Paintings such as these that record
the changing seasons make Daura’s skill as
a colorist clearly evident, not only across
groups of paintings, but also within each
individual composition.
Top: Chicken Coop, Rockbridge Baths, 1955-1970
Watercolor and tempera on paper
Taubman Museum of Art
Gift of Martha Randolph Daura, 2003.042
Left: Chicken Coop with Jump Mountain, Rockbridge Baths, 1955-1970
Watercolor on paper
Taubman Museum of Art
Gift of Martha Randolph Daura, 2003.045
Right: Autumn Scene, Rockbridge Baths (detail), 1955-1970
Watercolor on paper
Taubman Museum of Art
Gift of Martha Randolph Daura, 2003.049
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