Athens, Ga. — American artist Louise Heron Blair (1905 – 1972) moved to Paris to study art in 1927. A year later, she married Spanish artist Pierre Daura (1896 – 1976) and became part of the Parisian avant-garde. The letters she wrote to her family in Virginia recount her artistic process, the city’s cultural vibrancy, culinary exploits and her enduring love for Paris and Pierre. “Much Love from Paris: Letters to My Family (1928–30)”(opens in new tab) presents a selection of these letters alongside photographs, drawings, newspaper clippings and other materials that bring late 1920s Paris to life through Louise’s keen and passionate eyes.
Among the “Lost Generation” of writers and artists living abroad in interwar Paris, Louise writes to her family from the perspective of an American expatriate, aspiring painter and newlywed. “Much Love from Paris” details not only her courtship with Pierre but their shared journey as they develop their individual practices, exhibit their work and find community within the city’s creative scene. From visits to studios of prominent artists to dinner parties and nights out on the town, her entertaining storytelling and witty observations reveal slice-of-life insights into what life in Paris was like nearly a century ago.
In addition to Blair’s letters, “Much Love from Paris” includes essays by Nelda Damiano, Pierre Daura Curator of European Art and director of the Daura Center at the Georgia Museum of Art(opens in new tab), and Robyn Asleson, curator of prints and drawings at the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery.
This book represents a continuation of the Georgia Museum’s scholarship on the Dauras and stewardship of their archive. In 2002, Martha Randolph Daura, the couple’s daughter, donated over 600 paintings, drawings, engravings, textiles and sculptures to the museum, making it the most important repository of Pierre’s oeuvre. The donation also included an endowment to support both the Pierre Daura Study Center, which houses archival material documenting the couple’s lives and careers, and the Pierre Daura Curator of European Art.
305 pages; $19.99 (softcover)
ISBN: 9781946657176
Publishing Date: July 2026
If you are interested in a review copy of the book, contact: Hillary Brown, hazbrown@uga.edu, 706.542.1817.
