Buffalo-born artist James Koenig (1925-1998), husband of artist Catherine Koenig (see “Framed,” Artvoice 1/14/09), was an accomplished painter. Though neither as revered nor collected as his wife, Koenig has in recent years found a renewed interest in collector’s circles.

James Koenig, Untitled Abstraction, circa 1950s. Photo courtesy of koenigartstudio.com.

His work, and career path, shows a common trajectory of many post World War Two artists.

Koenig was a soldier in the second wave at Normandy, where he was severely injured. Returning home, Koenig attended the Art Institute of Buffalo on the GI Bill. At the school he met his future wife, Catherine Catanzaro, who was one of his teachers.

There he also studied with Charles Burchfield, and took classes with Robert Blair.

He joined several arts organizations around town. He became president of the Patteran Society, a group of modernist artists who broke away from the more staid Buffalo Society of Artists. He was also affiliated with the Buffalo Print Club. Koenig exhibited in a group show with the club at the Albright Museum in 1949.

Koenig graduated from the Art Institute of Buffalo and continued to teach there. He earned a degree in art education from the University of Buffalo. Shortly thereafter, he began a professional career as a graphic designer and technical illustrator.

Much of his work integrated the painting styles of the day. He moved from a social-realist and cubist motif through abstract expressionism. Later, in the 1970s, Koenig developed an affinity for geometric abstraction.

Though working to support his growing family, Koenig found time to exhibit regularly throughout New York State, and frequently was included in the Western New York Exhibitions at the Albright-Knox Art Gallery. He also went out on painting expeditions with fellow artist David Pratt.

“He had an effortless compositional sense,” says his daughter, artist Becky Koenig. “Designing for his job, teaching, and through his watercolor trips, he was engaged in something visual all the time.”

She adds that “he could jump right into doing a painting without much preparation. He was very cavalier in his methodology. He didn’t care if his kids were hanging around while he was painting. But he was serious about it. It wasn’t until we got older that we realized and appreciated how serious he was.”

Koenig’s work consistently belies the ease with which he painted. He created a modernist body of work that is finding its place in our canon of regional art.