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University of Oregon Students curate an exhibition of Catalan-American artist Pierre Daura

 

“Placing Pierre Daura” is on view from May 10 to September 28, 2014

 

EUGENE, Ore. -- (May 5, 2014) – “Placing Pierre Daura,” an exhibition of the work of the Catalan-American artist, will be on view from May 10 to September 28, 2014, at the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art at the University of Oregon.  “Placing Pierre Daura” was curated by twenty graduate and undergraduate students from History of Art and Architecture, Anthropology, Folklore, Historic Preservation, Humanities, and the Arts and Administration Program.  The students were enrolled during the 2013-14 academic year in spring and fall practica taught by JSMA McCosh Associate Curator Danielle Knapp and a winter course taught by Dr. Phaedra Livingstone, assistant professor, Arts and Administration and director of the Graduate Museum Studies Certificate, which culminates in the exhibition and catalog.

 

“I’m proud that the JSMA is one of the finest teaching museums in our country today,” says executive director Jill Hartz. “Drawing on the expertise and experience of the museum staff as well as University of Oregon faculty, we are uniquely situated as a center for interdisciplinary learning. Through innovative courses like these, we connect academic investigations with practical experiences that deepen the students’ understanding of art, museums and our world.”

 

The exhibition and accompanying catalog, which includes nine essays written by the student curators, explores Daura’s process of identity formation as interpreted through three major motivating forces: nationality, community and family. The overarching theme of “place,” which connects these three themes can be understood not only as geographic location, but his psychological and emotional location throughout his life.

 

“The physical environment was often represented in his works as he sought to record the world around him, including his travels throughout Europe and his homes in France and Virginia,” says Knapp

 

On Tuesday, May 13, at 5:30 p.m., a scholarly panel featuring Dr. Cecilia Enjuto Rangel, associate professor of Spanish at the University of Oregon; Dr. Carmen Lord, assistant professor of Liberal Arts at Pacific Northwest College of Art; and Dr. Barbara Rothermel, assistant professor of Museum Studies and director and curator of the Daura Gallery at Lynchburg College, provides context for Daura’s work; the student curators will then illuminate themes and artwork in the exhibition. A reception follows.

 

On Saturday, June 7, at 2 p.m., University of Oregon School of Music and Dance instructor Laura Wayte and her students perform a recital of Catalan and Spanish songs in highlighting prominent themes in Daura's work in “A Spirited Bourrée.”  An exhibition tour follows the concert. 

 

This project, including the exhibition, catalog, and accompanying educational programs, are made possible by the Daura Foundation, University of Oregon Academic Affairs, and a JSMA Academic Support Grant. University of Oregon students who participated in the curatorial project are Tracey Bell, Helen Blackmore, Lindsay Keast, Sarah Lester, Yi Liang, Carrie Morton, Jillian Norris, Beatrice Ogden, Maddy Phillips, Victoria Reis, Mattie Reynolds, Taylor Rikhoff Sarah Robison, Cody Russell, Lauren Szumita, Merrit Thompson, Emily Volkmann, Juiliana Wright-Kennedy, Sarah Wyer and Aryn Zanca.

 

Pedro Francisco Daura y Garcia (1896-1976) was born on the island of Minorca and raised in Barcelona, Spain, where he studied at La Llotja (The Academy of Fine Arts). He changed his first name to the French version, Pierre, upon moving to Paris at age 18. In 1929, Daura co-founded the international abstract artists’ group Cercle et Carré (Circle and Square), but later returned to representational subject matter. He and his wife, American artist Louise Heron Blair (1905-72), purchased a medieval home in picturesque Saint-Cirq-Lapopie, France, in 1929, and welcomed their daughter, Martha, the following year.

 

As a soldier in the Republican army during the Spanish Civil War, Daura suffered injuries at the Battle at Teruel and his Spanish citizenship was revoked after he refused to return to the country under General Francisco Franco's fascist dictatorship. In 1939, the Dauras moved to Rockbridge Baths, Virginia.

 

Daura maintained an active career in the United States and spent many summers painting in St. Cirq. He served as chairman of the Art Department at Lynchburg College (1945-46), and taught at Randolph-Macon Women’s College (1946-53), before devoting the last two decades of his life to full-time painting and sculpting. Daura passed away in Virginia as a naturalized U.S. citizen at age seventy-nine.

 

In 2004, Martha Daura generously gifted a large collection of works by her father to the JSMA and the University of Oregon School Of Law in honor of Chapin D. Clark, a former dean of the Law School.

 

About the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art

The University of Oregon's Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art is a premier Pacific Northwest museum for exhibitions and collections of historic and contemporary art based in a major university setting. The mission of the museum is to enhance the University of Oregon’s academic mission and to further the appreciation and enjoyment of the visual arts for the general public.  The JSMA features significant collections galleries devoted to art from China, Japan, Korea, America, Europe and elsewhere as well as changing special exhibition galleries.  The JSMA is one of six museums in the state of Oregon—and the only university museum--accredited by the American Alliance of Museums.

 

The Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art is located on the University of Oregon campus at 1430 Johnson Lane. Museum hours are 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Wednesdays, and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays through Sundays. Admission is $5 for adults and $3 for senior citizens. Free admission is given to ages 18 and under, JSMA members, college students with ID, and University of Oregon faculty, staff and students. For information, contact the JSMA, 541-346-3027.

 

 

About the University of Oregon

The University of Oregon is among the 108 institutions chosen from 4,633 U.S. universities for top-tier designation of "Very High Research Activity" in the 2010 Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education. The UO also is one of two Pacific Northwest members of the Association of American Universities.

 

Contact: Debbie Williamson Smith, Communications Manager, 541-346-0942, debbiews@uoregon.edu

 

Link: Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art, http://jsma.uoregon.edu