Philip Koch


Philip Koch's wife took this photo of him during one of their residencies in Edward Hopper's former painting studio in Truro, MA on Cape Cod. Koch was returning from painting down on the shore below the studio.

An Urgent Celebration

Of his art Koch has written "All of us recall vivid aspects of our childhood, both the good and the bad- we carry images of those times within us our whole lives. Key images like this define who we really are. For me one of the striking positives of my boyhood was where I grew up- in a remote neighborhood of steep forested hills along the shore of one of the Great Lakes. I wasn't good at the sports my friends played so very often I played alone in the forest or on the shore. There I found an endless source of imagination and entertainment. The natural world spoke to me, not literally but deeply nonetheless. It centered me.

In our time of growing environmental stress I believe paintings like mine offer an urgent celebration of the natural world that we all need to re-center ourselves and our society."

 

Philip Koch (pronounced like "watch") never intended to become an artist,yet a required art history class in his first semester at Oberlin College so intrigued him that he swithced his intended major from sociology to studio art. And he never looked back. 

A fomer abstract artist, Koch was inspired while still a young artist by the work of the American realist Edward Hopper to change to working in a realist direction. Since 1983 he has been granted 17 residencies to stay and work in the former studio Hopper used for 30 years on Cape Cod, MA. 

Koch is the great grandson of John Wallace, a Scottish landscape painter, and the grandson of John Capstaff, the inventor of the first commercially available color film, Kodachrome. Ironically Koch normally avoids using photography as a source for his paintings, relying instead on selective observation outdoors and on memory and invention in creating his art. "To be good enough to reach other people paintings have to draw from our inner world."  

 Sixteen American art museum hold Koch's paintings in their Permanent Collections.

Philip Koch resume                                                            

Born                            March 30, 1948

Education                    MFA in Painting, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN 1972

                                    BA in Liberal Arts, Oberlin College, Oberlin, OH 1970

Solo Museum Exhibitions                           

2018                            Time Travel in the Burchfield Archives: Paintings by Philip Koch

                                       Burchfield Penney Art Center, Buffalo, NY

2017                            Light and Shadow: Paintings and Drawings by Philip Koch from

                                       Edward Hopper’s Studio, Swope Art Museum, Terre Haute, IN

2014-15                       The Mirror of Nature: The Art of Philip Koch, Washington

                                       County Museum of Fine Arts, Hagerstown, MD

2011-12                      Unbroken Thread: Nature Painting and the American Imagination

                                       The Art of Philip Koch, Saginaw Art Museum, MI

                                   Unbroken Thread, Peninsula Fine Arts Center, Newport News, VA

2010                           Unbroken Thread, Clymer Museum of Art, Ellensburg, WA

                                   Unbroken Thread, Midwest Museum of American Art,     

                                       Elkhart, IN

2009                            Unbroken Thread, Cape Cod Museum of Art, Dennis, MA

2003                            Cape Cod Museum of Art, Dennis, MA        

2002                            Phillips Museum of Art, Franklin and Marshall College       

                                       Lancaster, PA (two artist exhibition)

2001                            Swope Art Museum, Terre Haute, IN (also 1995)

                                    Rahr-West Art Museum, Manitowoc, WI (catalogue)

1998                            Blanden Memorial Art Museum, Fort Dodge, IA (catalogue)

1996                            Saginaw Art Museum, Saginaw, MI

1995                            Washington County Museum of Fine Arts, Hagerstown, MD

                                    Butler Institute of American Art, Salem, OH

                                    Midwest Museum of American Art, Elkhart, IN

1994                            Cedar Rapids Museum of Art, Cedar Rapids, IA

Selected Solo Exhibitions

2017                            Two Artist Exhibition, Courthouse Gallery Fine Art, Ellsworth,

                                       ME

2015                            Philip Koch: Landscapes and Hopper Interiors, Edward Hopper

                                       House Museum and Study Center, Nyack, NY

2013                            Inside Edward Hopper’s World: Paintings by Philip Koch, Isalos       

                                        Fine Art, Stonington, ME

2012-13                       Earth’s Shadow, George Billis Gallery, New York

2012                            Inside Edward Hopper’s Studio: Paintings by Philip Koch,

                                       Edward Hopper House Art Center, Nyack, NY

2011                            Carbon County Cultural Project, Jim Thorpe, PA

                                    Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore

2010                            Edgewater Gallery, Middlebury, VT

                                    JLP Gallery, Baltimore

2009                            George Billis Gallery, New York

                                    Unbroken Thread, Hungerford Memorial Gallery,

                                       College of Southern Maryland, La Plata, MD

                                    Unbroken Thread, Maryland Institute College of Art

2008                            Unbroken Thread, U. of MD University College, College

                                        Park, MD, catalogue

2007                            Light / Forest / Sea J. L. Pierce Gallery, Baltimore

Selected Group Exhibitions

2019                            Courthouse Gallery Fine Art, Ellsworth, ME

                                    In Thoreau’s Views, Addison Art Gallery, Orleans, MA

                                    Shoreline, Button Gallery, Douglas, MI

                                    Maine: The Painted State, Greenhut Galleries, Portland, ME

                                    Landscape Exhibition, Meredith Long & Co., Houston, TX

                                    Nichols Gallery, Barboursville, VA

2018                            Hopper’s World: New York, Cape Cod and Beyond, Cedar Rapids

                                       Museum of Art, IA

                                    Meredith Long & Co., Houston, TX

                                    Somerville Manning Gallery, Greenville, DE

                                    Courthouse Gallery Fine Art, Ellsworth, ME

                                    Addison Art Gallery, Orleans, MA

                                    Nichols Gallery, Barboursville, VA

                                    Button Gallery, Douglas, MI

2017                            23 Pairs: Considering Compare and Contrast, Arnot Art Museum

                                       Elmira, NY

                                    Maine: The Way Life Is, Greenhut Galleries, Portland, ME

                                    Meredith Long & Co., Houston, TX

                                    Somerville Manning Gallery, Greenville, DE

                                    Button Gallery, Douglas, MI,

                                    After Hopper, Addison Art Gallery, Orleans, MA

                                    Nichols Gallery, Barboursville, VA

2016                            The Residency Experience, (two artist show), Courthouse Gallery  

                                        Fine Art, Ellsworth, ME

                                     After Hopper, Cape Cod Museum of Art

                                     Edward Hopper’s Legacy on Cape Cod, Truro Historical

                                        Museum

                                    10/10 Painting Acadia, Courthouse Gallery Fine Art

                                    Meredith Long Gallery, Houston, TX

                                    Somerville Manning Gallery, Greenville, DE

                                    Button Gallery, Douglas, MI

                                    Nichols Gallery, Barboursville, VA

Awards and Honors

2019]                         Allen Memorial Art Museum purchases work by Philip Koch

                                  Burchfield Penney Art Center acquires two Koch landscapes for its permanent collection

2018                           Residency in Edward Hopper’s Painting Studio, S. Truro, MA

                                       (also 2016, 2014, 2012, 2010, 2008, 2006, 2004, 2002, 2000,

                                        1998, 1996, 1994, 1992, 1986, 1984, 1983)

                                   Delaware Art Museum, speaker on Edward Hopper and Charles

                                       Burchfield works in the collection

                                   Freer Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, workshop on drawing

2017                            Delaware Art Museum, speaker on their major John Sloan   

                                        exhibition

                                    Speaker on Edward Hopper’s Legacy on Cape Cod, Truro

                                       Historical Museum, Truro, MA

                                    Speaker at the Burchfield Penney Art Center, Buffalo, NY

2015-17                       Artist in Residence, Burchfield Penney Art Center, Buffalo, NY

2016                            Speaker on Edward Hopper at Cape Cod Museum of Art,

                                       Dennis, MA       

2014                            Speaker on Edward Hopper at Norman Rockwell Museum,

                                       Stockbridge, MA

2007                            Panelist on National Conference on Representational Painting

                                       Cape Cod Museum of Art, Dennis, MA                                       

Bibliography

2019                             Fine Art Connoisseur,  Sept/Oct issue, Off the Walls, p. 128

                                     Hyperallergic  magazine, A View from the Studio

2018                             American Art Collector, feature article on Burchfield Penney Art

                                        Center solo exhibition, April issue

                                    Fine Art Connoisseur, feature on Burchfield Penney Art Center

                                       Solo exhibition, March/April issue

 2017                           Studio Visit magazine, two page feature on Koch paintings, 

                                        volume 38, pp. 102-103

                                     Fine Art Connoisseur, Koch included in article about Delaware

                                        Art Museum’s John Sloan exhibition, p. 71, December issue

                                     It’s Going to be a Colorful Summer, Cape Cod Life magazine,

                                        June, reproduction

                                     The Swope at 75, Terre Haute Living magazine, March issue,        

                                        feature article, reproductions

                                     Spectrum magazine, Spring issue, cover article Light and Shadow,

                                        published by ArtsIlliana, reproductions

                                     Fine Art Connoisseur magazine, feature on Arnot Art Museum

                                        exhibition 23 Pairs, Feb. issue

2016                            Art of Acadia, David and Carl Little, DownEast Books,

                                       reproduction

                                    Art New England, Nov-Dec issue, Art Seen section, photograph      

                                    Making Paintings from Drawings: Working in Edward Hopper’s

                                       World, Feb.- Mar. issue International Artist magazine, 10 page

                                       feature article

                                    Fine Art Connoisseur magazine, Aug. issue, featured in the article

                                       Cape Cod and Vermont: Art by the Sea and in the Hills,

                                       reproduction

                                    Finding Art in the Commonplace, Cape Cod Life 2016 Annual,

                                       Guide, an article on Edward Hopper on Cape Cod with extensive

                                       quotes from Philip Koch, reproductions

2015                            Fine Art Connoisseur, feature on Edward Hopper House Art 

                                    Center’s solo exhibition of Koch’s paintings

                                    Our Hopper article by David Millward, DownEast Magazine, July 

                                       issue

                                    Bringing It Home article by Jack Foran, Artvoice Magazine.   

                                       Buffalo, NY, Oct.1 issue

2014                            Artist Philip Koch to Speak Today at Museum, Nov. 16 Herald

                                         Mail, Hagerstown, MD

                                    Fine Art Connoisseur magazine, Nov/Dec issue, feature in the

                                       Off the Walls section, reproduction

                                     Studio Visit magazine volume 25, two reproductions

2013                             Studio Visit magazine volume 24, two reproductions

                                     Good Things Are Hoppering in Stonington,  

                                        Sunday Maine Telegram, Aug. 11 front page features section

                                     Hopper Drawing exhibition catalogue, Whitney Museum of        

                                        American Art (quoted in notes to Curator Carter Foster’s main

                                        essay) New York

                                     Out & About, Fine Art Connoisseur magazine, April 2013

2012                             Unbroken Thread: Philip Koch, American Art Collector magazine

                                          December 2012

                                     A Landscapist Connects with his Forerunners, Fine Art      

                                        Connoisseur magazine, June 2012

Museum Collections

                                    Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin, OH  

                                    Blanden Memorial Art Museum, Ft. Dodge, IA

                                    Burchfield Penney Art Center, Buffalo, NY

                                    Butler Institute of American Art, Youngstown, OH

                                    Cape Cod Museum of Art, Dennis, MA

                                    Cedar Rapids Museum of Art, Cedar Rapids, IA

                                    Indiana University Art Museum, Bloomington, IN   

                                    Midwest Museum of American Art, Elkhart, IN

                                    Memorial Art Gallery, Rochester, NY

                                    Minnesota Museum of American Art, St. Paul, MN

                                    Payne Gallery, Moravian College, Bethlehem, PA

                                    Saginaw Art Museum, Saginaw, MI

                                    Swope Art Museum, Terre Haute, IN            

                                    University of Maryland University College Maryland Artists          

                                         Collection, College Park, MD

                                    Washington County Museum of Fine Arts, Hagerstown, MD

                                    Wilson College Permanent Collection, Chambersburg, PA

Selected Corporate Collections

                                    Baltimore Gas and Electric

                                    Black and Decker, Baltimore, MD     

                                    Bank of Boston, Boston, MA                                  

                                    Caterpillar, Inc., Peoria, IL                                                                                                     

                                    DuPont Corporation, Wilmington, DE

                                    Ernst and Whinney,, New York                                 

                                    Freeport McMoRan, New Orleans, LA

                                   Johnson and Johnson, New Brunswick, NJ   

                                    MBNA American, Wilmington, DE

                                    Mitsui Bank, New York

                                    Midlantic Bank, New York

                                    PECO Energy, Philadelphia, PA

                                    Pepsico, New York

                                    Russ Reynolds Associates, New York

                                    Texas Commerce Bank, Houston

                                    United States Information Agency, Prague

                                    United States State Department, Washington, DC

                                    USAA, San Antonio, TX      

                                    Washington Post, Washington, DC                                                                   

Teaching

1973- 2019              Professor of Fine Art, Maryland Institute College of Art

                                       Baltimore, MD

1972-73                       Instructor of Painting, Central Washington University

                                       Ellensburg, WA