The Georgia Museum of Art’s new publication “Much Love from Paris: Letters to My Family (1928 – 30)” hit the shelves in July, featuring essays from Nelda Damiano, Pierre Daura Curator of European Art at the Georgia Museum, and Robyn Asleson, curator of the prints and drawings department at the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery, alongside letters written by American artist Louise Heron Blair.
Born in Richmond, Virginia, in 1905, Blair moved to Paris at 22, where she became a part of the avant-garde movement there. Written over the course of three years, Blair’s letters to her family paint an intimate portrait of her life. Delivered with witty humor and keen curiosity, Blair recounts her exploration of French culture and food, the growth of her artistic abilities, her marriage to Catalan artist Pierre Daura and the birth of their daughter.
Nelda Damiano spoke on the process of publishing the book in collaboration with Martha Randolph Daura, Pierre Daura and Blair’s daughter.
“The vision really was not so much an art historical publication as just a good book,” Damiano said. “You know, reading and getting inside this person’s life and how she was experiencing Paris at the time.”
Within her letters, Blair talks at length of her love for Daura, whom she met in Paris and became engaged to within six weeks, to her family’s apprehension. Damiano’s introductory essay focuses on the relationship between Blair and Daura, a romance that Damiano said affected her greatly.
“There were some days when I would read some of the letters and then I would text or email Martha and I’d say, ‘OK, I cried again today,’” said Damiano. “I can’t believe how much they loved each other. I can’t handle it.”
Blair and Daura were steeped in the artistic culture of late 1920s France. They made frequent social calls together, visiting artists or inviting other artists to their home. Notably, one of Blair’s landscape paintings was accepted into the Salon d’Automne in 1928, an annual art exhibition held in Paris. Damiano noted that Blair’s discussion of the salon and other artists extended the publication’s reach beyond her own work.
“It’s got way more pertinence and value and reach beyond Louise and Pierre Daura,” Damiano said.
Blair’s work has been displayed at the museum in the past year. Her art was featured in the fall 2025 exhibition “Brilliant Exiles: American Women in Paris, 1900–1939,” a collection of works that explored how American women found new forms of self-expression, freedom and creativity in early-20th-century France. A self-portrait of Blair from 1929 was featured in the traveling show.
The same self-portrait also features in a focused installation of six works in the museum’s permanent collection, opened in November 2025, after “Brilliant Exiles” closed, and still on view. It shows Blair wearing a red beret and gazing solemnly at the viewer, a work she described as “the best portrait I have ever done.”
Martha Randolph Daura donated over 600 works and archival materials related to Pierre Daura’s life to the Georgia Museum of Art in 2002. The Daura Collection and Study Center within the museum continues to paint a picture of Daura and Blair’s lives, as demonstrated by the new publication.
“Much Love from Paris: Letters to My Family (1928 – 30)” is available for purchase in the Museum Shop for $19.99.
Authored by:
Finn McClelion
