Peter Paul Drgac (1883 - 1976): Paintings on Paper

From October 30 through December 31, 2004, The Drawing Room will present the first show on the East Coast devoted to the enamel paintings on paper of self-taught artist Peter Paul Drgac (1883-1976). A reception will be held on Saturday November 6, from 5 to 7 pm.

Born in 1883 to immigrant parents in a Czech community in central Texas, Drgac spent his early years working on his family’s farm. He began painting during the last decade of his life, years after retiring from the grocery business he and his wife founded in 1916. His foray into painting started with a decorative impulse to embellish a whitewashed window box - influenced in part by Czech Folk Art traditions. For a time Drgac, known to friends and neighbors as Uncle Pete, immersed himself in ornamentation, using glossy enamel house paints to decorate household objects such as tables, benches, bottles, egg cartons and light bulbs. Soon Drgac shifted his attention to the creation of enamel paintings on paper - the subject of this exhibition. Between 1969 and his death in 1976, Drgac executed more than 200 paintings that covered the walls of his house, turned gallery, where he welcomed interested visitors.

See below for full press release and selected works.