The Red and Black

Issue date: 2/15/07 Section: Out & About

Media Credit: AJ PASSMAN Alexandria Quartey-Lynch (left), 10, Candace Payne (center), 10, and Naima Martin (right), 9, look at a piece of art in the exhibition Spanish Works on Paper, an exhibit that is rotated in and out of the Georgia Museum of Art.

In a small gallery on the second floor of the Georgia Museum of Art, there lies an exhibit of sketches by world renowned artists.

Students currently have the opportunity to view pieces by artists such as Salvador Dalí and Pablo Picasso without venturing far from Athens at no cost.

Actually, they don't even have to leave campus.

The Georgia Museum of Art is featuring an exhibit of Spanish Works on Paper until March 25. The works are housed in the Radford Gallery.

The GMOA is located on East Campus next to the Hugh Hodgson School of Music in the Performing and Visual Arts Complex.

A recent donation by Martha Randolph Daura, an Athens resident, sparked the inspiration for the collection. Her father, Pierre Daura, was a Catalán-American artist.

His daughter, Martha, donated many of his works, selecting the University's GMOA as one of the beneficiaries.

Spanish artist Alvar Suñol unveiled his painting "Plenitud" last week at the University of Georgia Center for Continuing Education Conference Center and Hotel. This was a gift from the artist to Franklin College.

Betty Jean Craige of the Wilson Humanities Center directed this donation along with writing and producing the award-winning documentary, "Alvar Suñol: His Vision and His Art." "Plenitud" will be on display at the Continuing Education Center permanently.

Suñol's work is part of a broader Spanish artwork collaboration with the GMOA to expose Athens to Catalán art. His Cinq Heures sketch is part of the Spanish Works exhibit.

"Spanish art is growing increasingly popular in the U.S., and the GMOA always offers innovative and progressive shows," said Giancarlo Fiorenza, the Pierre Daura Curator of Modern Art.

"I wanted to showcase works that speak of Spain, its history and its culture, past and present. All in all, the works in this exhibition feature a fascinating range of subject matter related to war, nature, myth, and the artistic imagination, and further illustrate the distinct graphic vitality of Spanish artists."

In addition to Daura's work, there are sketches by famous artists Pablo Picasso, L'Araignée and Dance of Fauns, Salvador Dalí, Floradali Rose and Cervantes.

Even for those not artistically inclined, there's something for everyone. For history and political science fans, there are sketches which were drawn as a response to war.

"Goya's 'Disasters of War' is one of the great manifestos against the atrocities of war on society," Fiorenza said. "Drawing his inspiration from Goya's work, Daura created his own series of etchings, known as 'Civilisation,' in response to the horrors of the Spanish Civil War. Such meditations on the theme of war is timely given the present situation of the U.S."

For those interested in science or the humanities, there are sketches that feature "the creativity of these Spanish artists, and how artists transformed the natural world and the literary world into something all their own," Fiorenza said.

Dalí's Floradali Rose would be a good example of this representation of nature.

Spanish Works on Paper is part of a permanent collection which is either on loan to other locations or stored at the museum when not on display.

These works are on paper and have limited exposure to light, resulting in having to be rotated out with other pieces.

"These objects are not always on public view, so visitors should take advantage of them while they are on display now," Fiorenza said.

There is a guided tour of this exhibit with the curator, Giancarlo Fiorenza, today at 2 p.m., which is free and open to the public.

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