John Franklin Koenig

John-Franklin Koenig (1924 - 2008) was an American artist who, though born and raised in Seattle, Washington, and sometimes associated with the 'Northwest School' of artists, spent most of his career in France. He was primarily a painter and collagist, working in a modern, non-representational style. His work appeared in hundreds of exhibitions around the world. He died in Seattle in 2008.

Koenig was born Oct. 24th, 1924, in Seattle, to parents of Swiss-German and French Huguenot extraction. He attended Lincoln High School. Interested in art from a young age, he was particularly taken with Asian art he saw at the Seattle Art Museum.

In 1943, while studying at the University of Washington, he was drafted by the U.S. Army and trained as a tank crewman. Landing at Cherbourg with the 11th Armored Division in 1944, he immediately fell in love with France and French culture. A few weeks later he received shrapnel wounds to the head and back in the Battle of the Bulge. While awaiting transfer back to the U.S. after the war's end, he took art classes at a G.I. University in Biarritz. There he made his first paintings.

Koenig returned to the University of Washington, where he studied art, French, and French literature. Around this time he also became interested in the work of Northwest artists such as Mark Tobey and Morris Graves. In 1948 he acquired a degree in Romance languages and moved to Paris to study at the Sorbonne on the G.I. Bill.

After finishing his studies Koenig remained in Paris, working at the bookstore of Jean-Robert Arnaud, who became his longstanding professional and personal partner. In 1950 the two opened the Galerie Arnaud (which lasted until 1976), and in 1955 began publication of the art review Ciamise, which was devoted entirely to non-figurative contemporary art

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