Collection David McCosh Memorial Collection

Following his death in 1981, the artist's widow, painter Anne Kutka McCosh, generously arranged for a large endowment including McCosh's art, archival records, and personal belongings to be gifted to the University of Oregon. As the caretaker of the David John McCosh Memorial Collection and Archive, the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art is home to the largest body of works by and relating to McCosh. This important collection contains over one thousand oil paintings, watercolors, drawings, and prints. Archival materials include the artist’s correspondence and personal papers, a series of sketchbooks dated between 1927 and 1979, slides taken by the artist during his travels, an audiotape interview with David and Anne McCosh conducted by friend and fellow faculty member Phil Gilmore in 1977, and a collection of audiotape oral histories conducted by researcher Mary Helen Burnham with friends and former students of the artist in 2001. Additionally, in the JSMA’s permanent collection, there are over 170 works by David McCosh and several by Anne Kutka McCosh. A selection of David McCosh’s works dating between 1934 and 1970 are on view in the JSMA’s Faculty Lounge. 

The David John McCosh Memorial Collection and Archive are overseen by the UO Foundation, the Executive Director and McCosh Curator of the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art, and the current members of the McCosh Advisory Committee: Sandra McCosh Leonard, Bets Cole, Andrew Cook, and Larry Fong. We are especially grateful to emeriti members Craig Cheshire and Roger Saydack for their work with this committee since its founding in 1990.