John Koch: Painting a New York Life
About this book
Published to accompany a major exhibition exemplifying John Koch's finest works from the 1950s to the 1970s, this is the first book to explore the life and work of this self-taught artist, renowned for his painting of New York life. Spending over 4 years in Paris studying classic works at the Louvre, he developed a formidable technique, evident in his beautiful rendering of the light playing on surfaces. According to those who knew him, John Koch composed his persona as carefully as he arranged his still lifes and interiors. His wife, Dora Zaslavsky, was an esteemed piano coach, and together they created a private world, as Koch wrote, 'out of the substance of the city'. Typified by his interest in the interaction between people and the space around them, as well as the interplay of music and art, Koch's work resisted the prevalent trend towards abstraction. Instead it recorded members of John and Dora's circle (artists, writers and musicians), who participated in the European-style salon as an oasis of high culture and refinement in New York City.