Introduction by Danielle Knapp, McCosh Curator

Danielle M. Knapp

Since 1990, the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art and the McCosh Advisory Committee have collaborated on efforts to preserve, research, and share the works of David McCosh. Exhibitions, publications, lectures, class sessions, and special projects continue to foster appreciation of his art and a deeper understanding of his contributions as a painter and teacher. Although Anne Kutka McCosh’s motivation in establishing the McCosh Memorial Museum Endowment Fund was to ensure her husband’s art and archive would be available for future study, the Committee’s work has also shone a light on Anne’s own impressive artistic legacy.

With the JSMA’s temporary building closure in 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we quickly pivoted to virtual formats to ensure the accessibility of museum resources and meaningful engagement with art. We are delighted to make available a digital version of Roger Saydack’s book of essays, David McCosh: Learning to Paint is Learning to See, from 2015. In this special addendum to the earlier publication, we present his two additional essays on David McCosh for Karin Clarke Gallery and biography of Anne Kutka McCosh for The Oregon Encyclopedia. My thanks to Roger for sharing his superb writing, over thirty years of service on the McCosh Advisory Committee, and his dedication to the legacy of David and Anne McCosh; to all of the members of the McCosh Advisory Committee, for their support, flexibility, and good cheer during this unprecedented year; to Karin Clarke and the staff of Karin Clarke Gallery, for partnership in presenting the works by David McCosh featured in these publications; to Amy Platt of The Oregon Encyclopedia for permission to reproduce Roger’s entry on Anne Kutka McCosh in this format; to my colleagues Mike Bragg, JSMA design services manager, and Jonathan Smith, JSMA photographer, for their work in creating this digital resource; and to all who join us in our appreciation of these remarkable Oregon artists.

Danielle Knapp McCosh Curator

David and Anne McCosh on sabbatical in Mexico, 1966. Unknown photographer. McCosh Memorial Archive