[Decorated holograph letter to Kenneth B. Sawyer]

Paris: the author, 1955. Letter. Four-page penned letter to Sawyer, on recto and verso of two sheets of paper decorated with scattered bits of pasted illustrations and colored paper, the text written around these additions. The letter has been folded into quarters for mailing, otherwise very good; original envelope with postal cancellations is also present. Koenig, born in Seattle, served in France at the end of World War II and fell in love with the country. After studying at the Sorbonne, he met Jean Robert Arnaud and opened a gallery (and personal relationship) with him in Paris. This would presumably be how Koenig met Sawyer, who had written on the arts for the Paris Herald Tribune, but by this time was living in Baltimore. In an amiable letter packed with personal observations on the Paris art world, Koenig discusses the local reception of his work. "One said 'Too American still,' and another 'Too personal, you must learn to have the humility of the medieval artisans.' The first I am not ashamed of, the second left me a bit cool, I still like being an individual." It appears that Sawyer had attempted to find a job for Koenig as an art critic with the NY Herald Tribune; Koenig apologizes for failing to pursue this opportunity. "Feared that I had already much too much to do, felt that it was more important to paint than to criticize other painters." Goes on, however, to assess the work of other local artists, including Paul Jenkins and Gianni Bertini... "And Viseux is doing God knows what." Notes that a letter by Sawyer is going to have its first "injurious" line removed for publication, though "I am quite in agreement with you - Herta W. was quite amused to see her ex-husband taken down a peg or two." ... "I would like to have a visite d'atelier of Rothko, Pollock and Still eventually. They are none the less leaders of a whole new world in painting..." Praises Dorothy Miller of the MMA who visited and "was in love with the gentleness, and bless her, good food of Paris... A real LADY. Sort of the Queen Kelly of modern art. One of that small part of the intelligentsia Americana which shows you that we are not ONLY decadent barbares...