Hazel Koenig (1924 – 2009)

Tasselated, c. 1960s, acrylic on canvas, signed verso, 36 x 36 inches, label verso reads: “Tasselated / 18 / Hazel Koenig,” inscribed verso: “Hazel Koenig / 5813 17 N.E. Seattle”

$3,750

About the Painting

Tasselated is typical of Hazel Koenig’s hard-edged geometric abstractions from the 1960s and 70s when she lived and worked in California and Washington state. Koenig’s canvases from this period addressed the same aesthetic concerns as the now better-known hard-edge painters who were included in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art’s Four Abstract Classicists exhibition in 1959. Her paintings particularly recall those of Karl Benjamin. Works like Tasselated were praised by contemporary critics and welcomed by collectors. In 1961, the art critic for the The Olympian described Koenig's entry at the Annual Art Exhibition at the Washington State Capitol Museum as “a symphony of moving colorful shapes on white painted in her well-known decorative style.” Nearly ten years later, another observer commented that her “Brightly colored paintings . . . smite the eye and nudge the imagination.” While reviewing Koenig’s solo exhibition at Spokane’s Cheney Cowles Memorial Museum, a writer for the Spokane Chronicle described her painting Duo Image as “an eye-boggling exercise in painting craft to be viewed with a bit of an optical shock.” The author continued, “Interesting uses of color and combinations of color are evident in a number of geometric paintings which are executed with skill.” It is interesting to consider whether Koenig developed her visual vocabulary in dialog with the likes of Benjamin, John McLaughlin, Frederick Hammersley, Lorser Feitelson, and Florence Arnold when Koenig was living in Los Angeles and teaching at UCLA during the mid-1960s or whether she arrived at her artistic solutions independently.    

About the Artist

Hazel Koenig was a West Coast painter and arts educator, who is best known for her hard-edged abstractions. She lived and worked in California, Oregon and Washington state. Koenig was born in Seattle and attended Reed College in Portland, Oregon on an undergraduate scholarship and received a Master of Fine Arts degree in painting from the University of Washington in 1950. Koenig then attained her General Certification in art education. As early as 1955, Koenig exhibited at the Seattle Art Museum as part of the Northwest Annual Exhibition and in 1958 she was appointed to the jury of the Western Washington Fair Art Show. Koenig exhibited extensively during the 1950s through the 1970s, including at Holy Names College (1959), the Washington State Capitol Museum (Olympia, 1960), Tacoma Art Museum (solo exhibition 1966), Henry Gallery of the University of Washington (Six Solos, 1967), Governor’s Invitation Exhibition of Washington Artists (1968 at the Washington State Capital Museum, the Tacoma Art Museum and other traveling venues), Cascade Hall Gallery of the Everett Community College (solo, 1968), Avant Garde Gallery at Fort Wright College (solo 1969), and Cheney Cowles Memorial Museum (1970 solo).  During the early 1960s, she taught art in the Seattle school system before relocating to Los Angeles, where she served as an Art Instructor and later Assistant Professor of Art at UCLA from 1965 through 1967. Koenig and fellow artist, Aileen Moseley, contributed to Pauline Johnson's book, Creating with Paper - Basic Forms and Variations" which was commended by the Pratt Institute in a review of new films and books. Koenig also coauthored Crafts Design: An Illustrated Guide with Spencer Moseley and Pauline Johnson. She served as an Associate Professor in the Department of Art and Architecture at Portland State College before being recruited by the University of Washington, where she served as a professor until her retirement from academic life. In 1981, Koenig was presented with a National Art Education Association Award for the State of Washington and in 2004, she was presented the Tribute Award from the Washington Art Education Association (WAEA) for significant contributions and service to WAEA. Her works are in the City of Seattle Civic Art Collection.

(As framed)