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Giselle Brannam
March 25, 2021
Martha Daura in 2017, on a visit to the Georgia Museum of Art
Martha Daura named chevalier de l’ordre des Arts et des Lettres
Martha Daura, who has dedicated her life to advancing the study, enjoyment and practice of the visual arts, has received the chevalier de l’ordre des Arts et des Lettres (the French Order of Arts and Letters). This award recognizes individuals for their significant contributions and promotion of the arts. Daura’s vision and generosity have benefited immeasurably not only the people of Georgia, but also museums and their constituents throughout the United States and Europe. She has been a model philanthropist and earned the respect of all who know her, having dedicated more than 40 years to sharing her family’s legacy.
Since the death of her parents, artists Louise Heron Blair Daura and Pierre Daura, in the 1970s, Martha Daura has promoted the rediscovery of their work through donations to more than 30 museums in Spain, France, and the United States. She has funded two curatorial positions for European art at the Georgia Museum of Art and the creation of a study center that houses archival material related to the life and career of her parents. She also established an international artists’ residency program by donating her family home in the village of Saint-Cirq-Lapopie in the South of France to the French government. To this day, she actively supports the purchase of her father’s works and that of artists who ran in her father’s circle. She funds numerous exhibitions that showcase her father’s legacy.
Daura lived in Athens, Georgia, for many years, and a significant part of her philanthropy has been directed to the Georgia Museum of Art. She and her late husband, Thomas W. Mapp, chose the Georgia Museum of Art to be the main custodian of Pierre Daura’s artistic production through an endowment established in 2002. Nelda Damiano, Pierre Daura Curator of European Art, was thrilled at the announcement: “it is a rare privilege to have the unwavering support of such an extraordinary individual. To know and benefit from Martha Daura’s kindness, intelligence, and dedication has been one of the most rewarding aspects of my job.”
Her gift and effort have facilitated the presentation and study of European art at the museum and led to a significant expansion of the collection of European art, with the museum now owning more than 600 paintings, prints, drawings and sculptures by Pierre Daura. It also oversees the Pierre Daura Study Center, which preserves, among other material, correspondence by the Daura family that provides an intimate knowledge of the art scene from the 1920s to the 1970s. This gift opened the door to new humanities research and opportunities for the museum to collaborate with other departments on campus, as well as other museums and institutions.
William U. Eiland, director of the Georgia Museum of Art, who nominated Daura for this award, expressed that “the French government could not have had a better person upon whom to bestow this great honor. Martha Daura has literally changed the direction of this museum and many others with her generosity, her love of art, and her commitment to her father’s legacy.”