David McCosh: Parallel with Nature

A wide-ranging body of work completed by David McCosh (1903-81) in his Eugene studio, typically in the evenings, came to be known as his “Night Drawings.” These exercises on paper were more than simple ink or oil drawings of the specific landscape situations that McCosh keenly observed. Rather, they were opportunities for the artist to challenge his own process of seeing and knowing a familiar subject. He worked freely and intuitively, creating a large number of these works throughout the 1950s and 60s. Imagery ranged from elegant line drawings suggesting branches to energetic tangles of trees and forest floors. Each demonstrates McCosh’s superb command of his materials and the statement by French Post-Impressionist painter Paul Cézanne, an artist whom McCosh frequently referenced in his own philosophy of painting, that “art is a harmony parallel with nature.” Featured works are drawn from the JSMA’s permanent collection and from the McCosh Memorial Collection.