Life, Family & Work

David Durst (born Harry David Durst, Jr.) was an American artist and educator who was born on August 19, 1911 in Springfield, Missouri and died on July 30, 1967, in Fayetteville, Arkansas.  He was a Professor, Chairman of the Department of Art, and Director of the Gallery at the University of Arkansas Art Center in Fayetteville, Arkansas from 1946 to 1967.

​Durst was married to Mary Margaret Ragsdale with whom he had two children, Dana Durst (Lawrence) and Eric Julian Durst.  Dana graduated from Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville, New York.  She served in the White House and other federal agencies during the presidency of William J. Clinton.  Their son Eric graduated from the California Institute for the Arts.  Eric is a Visual Effects Designer and Supervisor for numerous Hollywood and independent feature films.[1]  He was a film animator during his early career. 

Durst received M.A. and M.F.A. degrees from the State University of Iowa and also studied at the Art Institute of Chicago and the United States Military Academy.  

​Durst was a painter and watercolorist.  His earlier paintings were figurative works which often used family members as subjects.  He claimed that the women he painted were his "ideal woman" and no one in particular, though they all looked like his wife to other family members.  His later works became more abstract.  His watercolors subjects and styles were largely abstract and were strongly influenced by his experiences scuba diving in the Gulf of Mexico and the Bahamas. 

In 1946, David became Chairman of the Department of Art and Director of its Gallery at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, Arkansas, a position he held until his death.  David was attracted to the new position because there was interest at the University in creating a new building for the various fields of the arts, which at that time did not have its own building, as explained below.  He was a on Sabbatical in Italy from August 1956 to January 1957 and was a Visiting Artist at the University of California, Los Angeles in 1961.  

Prior to his position at the University of Arkansas, Durst was an Instructor in the Art Department at the University of Iowa.  He was also a Lieutenant in the United States Naval Reserve for four years. Durst was the Supervisor of Art and Crafts for the Works Progress Administration for the State of Missouri for three years during the Great Depression before his graduate work at the University of Iowa. 

[1]      www.linkedin.com/pub/eric-durst/0/6b/846; www.imdb.com/name/nm0244397/.