David Byrd was born in 1926 in Springfield, Illinois. After serving in WWII, he studied art first in Philadelphia, then under the GI Bill at the Ozenfant School of Fine Arts in New York.

Failing to find recognition, he nevertheless remained a dedicated and prolific artist all his life, working at his self-built studio home in the Catskills. For thirty years he worked as an orderly at a veterans’ psychiatric hospital, which provided the subjects for his many of his paintings.

Since just before his death, interest in his work has steadily increased, and there have been exhibitions including at Fleisher/Ollman, Philadelphia; White Columns, New York; Anton Kern, New York; Matthew Brown, Los Angeles.

List of works.
Scroll Flask and Hand, 1989. Oil on canvas 42 x 54 inches.
Selling a Gun, 2000. Oil on canvas 22 x 28 inches.
Auction Block, 1973. Oil on canvas 18 x 24 inches.
Study in Brown, 2008. Oil on canvas 20 x 25 inches.
Man With Doll, 2009. Oil on canvas 24 x 20 inches.
Set Up Bottle Show, 1989. Oil on canvas 12 x 14 inches.
Auction Crowd, 1990. Oil on canvas 23 x 29 inches.
Auction, 2007. Oil on canvas 30 x 36 inches.

Also on show are eleven undated pencil studies, and six auction bidder’s cards with Byrd’s sketches.