In 2018, Martha R. Daura received the Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres — the French Order of Arts and Letters — from the French Ministry of Culture. The honor recognizes significant contributions to the arts, literature, or the propagation of these fields. An article on the Georgia Museum of Art’s website details her accomplishments.
Martha was born in Saint-Cirq Lapopie, a medieval French village in the Lot Valley, near Cahors, on Sept. 24, 1930. The daughter of two artists — Louise Heron Blair Daura (1905-1972), a native of Richmond, Virginia, and Pierre Daura (1896-1976), a Catalan expatriate — she’s divided her life between France and the U.S. She’s devoted her resources to both countries, benefiting countless artists, students, and members of the public.
In 2002, Martha gave her family home in Saint-Cirq Lapopie — a beautiful example of Gothic architecture — to the French Region Midi-Pyrénées. She wanted her father’s house to be a residence for international artists — committed to art as it was in the artist’s lifetime.
Since March 2005, Maisons Daura has been a center for research and innovation in many artistic disciplines, where artists from all over the world are in residence. The residency program is administered by the Maison des Arts George and Claude Pompidou in nearby Cajarc. More than 100 artists from 18 different countries have been chosen to come to Maisons Daura.Martha’s gift has been transformative for the Lot Valley and the region around it, a part of France too far from Paris to be part of that art world but close enough to attract artists in need of a working respite from the pressures of Paris. Martha has contributed significantly to furthering the arts in France and throughout the world, dedicating over 40 years of her life to sharing her extraordinary legacy.