About the artist:

Boldly unique in the field of wildlife art are the paintings of artist and naturalist Peter Darro. His rare ability to achieve meticulous accuracy in his subjects, without sacrificing any of their vibrant color and exciting vitality, is the result of a lifetime of intimate observation of nature and an incomparable mastery of his art. Born in 1917, he grew up in Chicago, finding his greatest boyhood delights in summers in the forests and fields of his uncle's farm in Michigan. He pursued his art career as a student at the American Academy of Art in Chicago. After graduation, eager for adventure in the wilderness, he set out in his old Hudson sedan to travel throughout the western states to the coast, camping as he went, sketching, painting and studying the American landscape and its' creatures in all their infinite variety. Upon his return to Chicago, his reputation as an artist rapidly became established. His intense interest in American history influenced many of his works, among which the portrait of Lincoln and paintings of pioneers migrating west have been widely reproduced. As a portrait painter, his ability to transmit the essential character of his subject won him national fame. He painted Senator Everett M. Dirksen in his chambers in Washington, D.C. The portrait, as well as the portrait of Mrs. Dirksen, now hangs in the Dirksen Memorial Library. Successful as he was in that field, he found his deepest artistic fulfillment in the many paintings done on his holidays in the woods of Wisconsin. He loved the challenge of capturing the intense purity of color in fur or feather, the incredible brilliance of sunlight on leaves and water, or the airy subtlety of a hazy day. His familiarity with the creatures of the wild and his passionate concern for their well-being inspired him to go out into the fields and blinds to sketch and take color notes of wildlife in all weather and seasons, studying their color, form, and habits under every conceivable condition. His work won immediate recognition in the highly specialized field of animal art. He is a member of the national Society of Animal Artists, an eminent group of the finest wildlife artists in the United States and Canada. An active conservationist, he is a member of the Illinois Audubon Society and has contributed a large number of his prints to the society for their use in fundraising. Articles about the artist and re- productions of his paintings have appeared in Illinois Wildlife, the monthly of the Illinois affiliate of the National Wildlife Federation. His painting is featured in National Wildlife Magazine, along with anecdotes by the artist, who is an articulate writer as well. He paints with enthusiasm and authority, but more than that, Darro's paintings say something special. Detailed but never picky, subtle but not timid, they are joyous and bursting with life, never confining the creature stiffly to the canvas, but rather freeing the viewer to the wondrous scope of the wilderness. PRIVATE COLLECTIONS The Late Senator Everett M. Dirksen The Late Harold Lloyd, Actor Daniel M. Galbreath, Sportsman and Owner of the Pittsburgh Pirates Bill Plante, CBS TV Newsman John Connally, Former Governor of Texas Daniel D. Maytag, Maytag Appliances William L. Searle, Searle Pharmaceuticals Charles R. Walgreen, Jr., Walgreen's Drug Stores Don McNeill, Announcer and Originator of the "Breakfast Club" Show William N. Lane, Ill, General Binding Corporation and Lane Enterprises John T. Pine, Carson, Pine, Scott Department Stores Noel Goldblatt, Goldblatt's Department Stores Commander Hap Proctor, U.S. Navy Jack D. Putnam, Sculptor Donald J. Zolan, Artist Leonard Lee Rue, Ill, Author and Photographer Fred Bear, Champion Archer and Author Professor Sarkis Atamian, University of Alaska, Author Robert A Maher, Attorney and Author Philip G. Coleman, M.D., Originator of Umbilical Artery Bypass Technique CORPORATE COLLECTIONS Grumman, Boats Division, Marathon, New York Japan-Cine, Division of Bell and Howell, Tokyo Kellogg Company, Battle Creek, Michigan Glenview State Bank, Illinois Land of Lincoln Federal Savings and Loan Associations, Illinois Sante Fe Railways, Chicago Minnequa Bank of Pueblo, Colorado Ralston Purina, St. Louis Cleveland Museum of Natural History Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History Max McGraw Wildlife Foundation, Illinois J.S. Sanders Wildlife and Conservation Foundation, Inc., Ohio National Wildlife Federation