No artist has captured the City of Buffalo quite like Dr. V. Roger Lalli. His photo-realistic watercolor series, Buffalo My City, takes the viewer on a tour of 42 of Buffalo’s most beloved landmarks, from the ornate Market Arcade building to the recently demolished Harbor Inn. Buffalo My City will be on display from March 20 to May 31 at the Buffalo and Erie County Historical Society’s museum, located at 25 Nottingham Court at Elmwood Avenue in Buffalo.

A native of South Buffalo, Dr. Lalli began painting his Buffalo My City series in 1989 at the age of 67. He committed the next ten years of his life to the project, during which he perfected the “pristine” watercolor technique, a detailed method that uses layered transparencies and washes to create color and value. Any sections of the paintings that appear white derive their color from the paper, rather than the application of an opaque white paint.

Dr. Lalli gathered hundreds of photographs and sketches as references for his paintings. He then used the following set of criteria to determine which views to feature in his works: architectural significance, historical significance, nostalgia, popularity, and aesthetics. Each piece has an accompanying historical description to place the subject in context.

Prior to creating Buffalo My City, Dr. Lalli taught in the Buffalo Public Schools, at Rosary Hill College (now Daemen College), and in the Amherst Central Schools. He also authored the textbook Intermediate Perspective, which was adopted as a secondary book by the Chicago and New York City Boards of Education. In the 1950s, Dr. Lalli used lessons from this book to present a series of live half-hour watercolor lectures on WNED-TV, Buffalo’s PBS affiliate.

Buffalo My City is included in general admission and will be on view during regular museum hours. For more information, the public may contact the Buffalo and Erie County Historical Society at (716) 873-9644 or visit www.buffalohistory.org.