David A. Walsh (American, 1942- ). The Paintings of David Walsh would not have seemed out of place at an exhibition of landscape artists in the middle of the nineteenth century, or hanging in a bungalow, selected for the collection of an Arts and Crafts Artisan. Although his art is reminiscent of work from a previous century, his intellectual interests extend much further back in time. A Medievalist by trade and internationally known expert in Romanesque architecture, Walsh was a Professor of History and Art History at the University of Rochester, NY where he had received his doctorate in art history from the University of Minnesota. He is a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of Great Britain and has won awards and grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the American Council of Learned Studies and the American Philosophical Society.
Walsh’s scholarly pursuits often took him to France, England and Italy, where places rich in history and tradition become the subjects of his delicate pencil drawings and oil paintings. It is perhaps his scholarly interest in architecture that brings to both Walsh’s landscapes and interiors their particular focus and strength. Walsh depicts Venetian Canals, farmhouses of southern France, lush English countrysides, gardenscapes, Adirondack Wetlands, as well as Western New York’s scenic rivers with a quiet subtlety and his paintings possess a luminous quality created by layering transparent glazes on canvas—this is especially true in the artist’s long horizontal paintings, one of his favorite compositional formats. Placing upon himself the restrictions of a narrow palette, Walsh revels in the finest nuances of tone and value. Viewers will find his evocative and contemplative scenes a source of meditative calm.
Walsh has exhibited his artwork at the Oxford Gallery Rochester (2000 & 2003) and is represented by Meibohm Fine Arts, East Aurora, NY. In 2011, Walsh retired from his teaching position in Art History and History at the University of Rochester after forty years in the department.
Published Works: The Iconography of the Bronze Doors of Barisanus of Trani, Gesta (1982); Bordesley Abbey II, co-published by David A. Walsh, S.M. Hirst and S.M. Wright (1983); The two-volume book, Corpus de la sculpture de Cluny: Les parties orientales de la Grande Eglise Cluny III, co-edited by David A. Walsh, Neil Stratford and Brigitte Maurice-Chabard, published by Picard Press, Paris, France (2010).
