Boldly unique in the field of wildlife art are the paintings of artist and naturalist Peter Darro (1917-1997). 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. Darro 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.

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.

Darro's paintings are 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.