Koenig in Seattle 1998Photo by Merch Pease
John Franklin Koenig 4 Nancray Diag 2000
Mixed media on canvas
57 1/4" x 57 1/4"
Courtesy of the artist
Photo by Claire Koenig
John Franklin Koenig: Northwest Master, Home and Away
March 25 to August 24, 2008
Believing "life every day should be an adventure, a creation, no matter where you are," John Franklin Koenig (b. 1924) truly lived his art in all aspects of life: his travels around the world, his correspondence with friends and published writings, and his immediate surroundings, including homes and studios in the countryside of France, in Paris, and Seattle. Known for his large scale abstract paintings, Koenig’s work encompasses and transcends virtually all artistic mediums, with collages, prints, photographs, glass, tapestries, ceramics, sculpture, fabric, jewelry, collage, and paintings upon record album and paperback book covers. The Whatcom Museum presents a survey retrospective of the Seattle-born, internationally acclaimed artist in John Franklin Koenig: Northwest Master, Home and Away, opening March 25, 2008.
The newest exhibition in the Whatcom Museum’s Old City Hall galleries features an array of artwork in all shapes, sizes, and mediums, spanning over 50 years of Koenig’s prolific career. It includes components relating to his creative process—from a look into an alcove of his most recent studio with paints, pigments, paintbrushes, and sketches to works in progress and preparatory works—along with supporting documentation of Koenig’s methods. Throughout the exhibition, quotes from Koenig about his work and philosophy provide further context and a comprehensive view of this remarkable man’s life and art.
The subject of over 200 solo and more than 300 group exhibitions internationally, Koenig settled in Paris after World War II and co-founded Galerie Arnaud, where he had his first exhibition of collages that launched his career. Though spending the next 30 years living in Paris and traveling abroad, Koenig never forgot his roots in the Pacific Northwest. His work consistently retains elements he attributes to his upbringing in the region: the strong contrast between snow and timberline on Mount Rainier, the mists surrounding the San Juan Islands, the soft, iridescent light so familiar to this area, as well as its dramatic skies, sunrises, and sunsets. In the early 1980s, he began to divide his time between France and Seattle, while still traveling the globe, coming back to one or the other studio to paint or fire or print the impressions he gathered on his journeys.
John Franklin Koenig: Northwest Master, Home and Away features works on loan from the Museum of Northwest Art, Seattle Art Museum, Tacoma Art Museum, in addition to works from the Whatcom Museum’s permanent Collections. Other generous lenders include Safeco Insurance Company, Bank of America, Gallery IMA, Merch and Alice Pease, Imogene (Tex) Gieling, Claire and John C. Koenig, and the artist himself, John Franklin Koenig. A catalogue accompanying this exhibition will be available for purchase at the Whatcom Museum.
Opening March 25, 2008, John Franklin Koenig: Northwest Master, Home and Away runs through August 24, 2008. Program support is provided by Merch and Alice Pease, the City of Bellingham, Washington State Arts Commission, and the National Endowment for the Arts.