Anne Kutka McCosh Head Study, n.d. Oil on board, 20 1/2 x 18 inches McCosh Memorial Collection; AKM.0006
Anne McCosh: One Remarkable Woman February 2008
I MUST HAVE KNOWN ANNE for about two years before we had our first real conversation about her art. She loved talking about art, especially about her husband, David’s work. She freely and vigorously shared her candid and often scathing opinions and ideas about painters famous and local, historic and living. Her candor sometimes put people off, but Anne came out of a tradition that had a strong set of values about art. She expected nothing less than the highest professional standards from those who held themselves out as artists. She was a great supporter of artists who met those standards, and a harsh critic of those who did not.
Anne McCosh sitting by stream, circa 1940. Unknown photographer (possibly David McCosh), McCosh Memorial Archive.
But her work was gently, but firmly, off limits during those conversations. She would deftly steer
important, and that her responsibility was to attend
my questions about how she handled various issues
to its preservation. She felt this way because of her
or subjects toward a discussion of Matisse or Diego
love for him, of course, but this was also her profes-
Rivera. She never told me why she didn’t want to talk
sional assessment of the value of his work. I suspect
about her work, she just made it clear that there were
that the lack of attention she gave to her own work in
other, more important topics for us to consider.
her later years was a reflection of her assessment of its
The studio in her home on Fairmount Boulevard
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relative value as well.
was filled with David’s work. Racks were built into
We were sitting in the studio one day, as we often
the walls to hold his paintings. Cabinets and shelves
did, at the corners of a table. I was going through a
had been specially constructed to store his drawings
stack of David’s watercolors one by one. We would
and watercolors. Work tables were cluttered with the
talk about some aspect or another of each. Often,
objects he used as still-life models. Cans filled with
the talk about a painting led Anne to tell me about
his brushes and painting tools were everywhere.
their life together at the time the painting was made.
Tubes of paint, drawing materials, sketchbooks, a
His art was such a focal point for them. I was quiet
massive easel—everything he used was right where he
for a few minutes, trying to figure out a passage in
left it. His paintings were hung throughout the house.
one of David’s complicated tangles, when Anne said,
But her work was nowhere to be seen.
matter-of-factly, “You know, you’d be very interesting
Anne never seemed to resent this attention to
to draw. Just look at the way the collar of your shirt
David. She believed, quite sincerely, that his work was
lays on top of that sweater. You see people differently
