The Places That Made Me a Painter: Paintings and Drawings by David McCosh August 2007
THIS EXHIBITION, the gallery’s fourth of the work of
the exercises of a master craftsman strutting his stuff.
David McCosh, is as much about the man as it is about
These are McCosh’s first-hand experiences of new
his work. I started with the idea of selecting paintings
places, laid down on paper for us to share.
that showed how intensely McCosh responded to the
Why did he paint this way, what was he trying to say,
unique character of the places he lived in—the land-
what does it all mean, and why should it interest us?
scapes that gave him, as he said, “an abundance of
The best explanation I’ve seen by McCosh himself of
new material for observation.” I wanted to find works
his intentions and purposes as a painter is in the writing
that evidenced as clearly as possible the thrilling,
that accompanies these comments, which I think is so
fresh point of view he realized through the close and
exceptional that I’m presenting it in its entirety.
careful observation that motivated his painting. What I found was a body of work that McCosh referred to as “something like an expanded notebook of firsthand experiences, recorded without much reworking.” What surprised me most was how personal this work felt and how much I learned about him as I studied it.
Proposal for a Sabbatical Leave David McCosh, 1953
Because I wanted to trace this theme though his entire
Draft of a statement proposing a sabbatical leave from
career, the show became a retrospective. But given the
teaching duties at the University of Oregon
personal nature of these pieces, it also takes on the character of an autobiography that speaks of McCosh
My project, which I hope to be able to do someday, in
throughout the ages of his life.
any case, is simply to remain where I am and try to
My comments here will be brief, because I really
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paint the material around me.
want to direct your attention to a remarkable piece of
I have been living and teaching in Eugene, Oregon,
writing by McCosh that I found in my research. But
for eighteen years. During that time I have produced
first, consider if you will, the romantic expressionism
many paintings but always on the interrupted and
of Dad’s Home in Ireland, the sweet feeling of home in
semi-occasional basis that a teaching schedule and its
Early Spring (fig. 1; page 1), the tender discovery of the
interests allow. In 1949–50 I had a Sabbatical Leave
colors of the desert in Landscape, New Mexico (painted
which was spent in two localities—Gray’s Harbor,
on the trip when Anne and David were married),
Washington, and in Mexico. The approach that devel-
the probing analysis of San Miguel and Tree in Torre-
oped out of necessity in both cases brought me closer
molinos (fig. 13; page 46), and the excitement of visual
to what I would like to be able to do with paintings
discovery in Along the Millrace (fig. 14; page 48), Corn-
and gave me some broad convictions about the signif-
wall Coast, and Ospidaletti. These pieces are more than
icance of painting which I am anxious to put to a
