Philip Koch

About

The tradition of landscape painting is just as vital a branch of the contemporary art world as any other. It is a wild, risk-taking, dangerous and mysterious undertaking.                          – Philip Koch

Koch is well known for his colorful, panoramic landscapes. Less known is that he was originally an abstract artist. A pivotal event for him was seeing the work of Edward Hopper. It inspired him early in his career to change to painting in a realist direction. Koch has been given unprecedented access to Hopper’s studio on Cape Cod, enjoying 17 residencies there since 1983, an honor granted to no other living American artist.

Sixteen American art museums hold Koch’s work in their permanent collections. From 2015-2018 Koch served as the Artist in Residence at the Burchfield Penny Art Center in Buffalo, NY. He is an emeritus professor at the Maryland Institute College of Art.  Koch is the great grandson of the Scottish landscape painter John Wallace.

Koch explains “My work is based on oil paintings made from direct observation outdoors with my portable French easel instead of using photos as a source. Doing it ‘the old-fashioned way’ seems to open a mysterious door to my deeper creative side. It’s a little ironic since my grandfather John Capstaff was the inventor of the original Kodachrome film process.”

Selected Museum Exhibitions

2014-15     The Mirror of Nature: The Art of Philip Koch, Washington County Museum of Fine Arts, Hagerstown, MD

2011-12      Unbroken Thread: Nature Paintings and the American Imagination, The Art of Philip Koch, Saginaw Art Museum, Saginaw, MI

2011-12      Unbroken Thread, Peninsula Fine Arts Center, Newport News, VA

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

2010         Unbroken Thread, Midwest Museum of American Art, Elkhart, IN

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

2003         New England Dreams, Cape Cod Museum of Art, Dennis, MA

2002         Phillips Museum of Art, Franklin and Marshall College, Lancaster, PA

2001         Swope Art Museum, Terre Haute, IN

2001         Rahr-West Art Museum, Manitowoc, WI

1999         Milton Art Museum, Milton, MA

1998         Blanden Memorial Art Museum, Fort Dodge, IA

1996         Saginaw Art Museum, MI

1995         Swope Art Museum, Terre Haute, IN

1995         Washington County Museum of Fine Arts, Hagerstown, MD

1995         Midwest Museum of American Art, Elkhart, IN

1995         Butler Institute of American Art, Salem, OH

1994         Cedar Rapids Museum of Art, IA

Selected Solo Exhibitions

2018            Hopper’s World: New York, Cape Cod and Beyond, Cedar Rapids Museum of Art, IA

2018            Meredith Long & Co., Houston, TX

2018            Nichols Gallery, Barboursville, VA

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

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

2017            Maine: The Way Life Is, Greenhut Galleries, Portland, ME

2017            After Hopper, Addison Art Gallery, Orleans, MA

2016           After Hopper, Cape Cod Museum of Art, MA

2016           Edward Hopper’s Legacy on Cape Cod, Truro Historical Museum, MA

2016          Meredith Long Gallery, Houston, TX

2015           Philip Koch: Landscapes and Hopper Interiors, Edward Hopper House Art Center, Nyack, NY

2012-13     The Artist’s Compass – Drawings and Paintings by Philip Koch, Friends School of Baltimore, Baltimore, MD

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

2011         Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore, MD

2009         Unbroken Thread, Hungerford Memorial Gallery, College of Southern Maryland, La Plata, MD

2009         Unbroken Thread, Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore, MD

2008         Unbroken Thread, University of Maryland, University College, College Park, MD (catalogue)

2004         University of Maryland, University College, College Park, MD (catalogue)

2003         University of Wisconsin Parkside, Kenosha, WI (two artist exhibition)

1999         University of Maryland, University College, College Park, MD (catalogue)

1998         Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore, MD

1997         Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore, MD

Selected Group Exhibitions

2014        American Masters Exhibition, Salmagundi Club of New York, NY

2014        Somerville Manning Gallery, Greenville, DE

2013        Miss Florence’s Artist Tree Exhibition, Florence Griswold Art Museum, Old Lyme, CT

2013        Fertile Imagination: Art and Agriculture, Schweinfurth Memorial Art Center, Auburn, NY

2013        Somerville Manning Gallery, Greenville, DE

2012        Centennial Juried Exhibition, Delaware Art Museum, Wilmington, DE

2012        Who We Are: Past and Present, Peninsula Fine Arts Center, Newport News, VA

2010        The American Century: Selections from the Permanent Collection, Cedar Rapids Museum of Art, Cedar Rapids, IA

2008        A Sense of Place: Landscapes from the Permanent Collection of the Saginaw Art Museum, Saginaw Art Museum, Saginaw, MI

2008         Somerville Manning Gallery, Greenville, DE

2007         Payne Gallery, Moravian College, Bethlehem, PA

2007         Somerville Manning Gallery, Greenville, DE

2006         Provincetown Art Association and Museum, Provincetown, MA

2005         The Power of Place: The Berkshires, The Berkshires Museum, Pittsfield, MA

2004         New Acquisitions, Cape Cod Museum of Art, Dennis, MA

2003         Provincetown Art Association and Museum, Provincetown, MA

2003         Reading Public Museum and Art Gallery, Reading, PA

2001-03    Washington County Museum of Fine Arts, Hagerstown, MD

2001-03    Wayne Art Center, Wayne, PA

2000        Butler Institute of American Art, Youngstown, OH

1993         The League at the Cape, Provincetown Art Association and Museum, Provincetown, MA

Education

1972         MFA in Painting, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN

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

1968-69   Art Students League of New York, New York, NY

1967         School of Art, Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY

Teaching Experience

1973-present      Professor of Fine Art, Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore, MD

1972-72         Instructor of Painting, Central Washington University, Ellensburg, WA

Awards and Honors

2018            Residency in Edward Hopper’s Painting Studio, S. Truro, MA (also 2012, 2010, also 2016, 2014, 2012, 2010, 2008, 2006, 2004, 2002, 2000, 1998, 1996, 1994, 1992, 1986, 1984, and 1983)

2018             Freer Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, workshop on drawing

2017             Delaware Art Museum, Wilmington, DE, speaker on their major John Sloan exhibition

2017             Speaker on Edward Hopper’s Legacy on Cape Cod, Truro, MA

2017            Historical Museum, Truro, MA

2017            Speaker at the Burchfield Penney Art Center, Buffalo, NY

2014            Speaker on Edward Hopper at Norman Rockwell’s Museum, Stockbridge, MA

2007            Panelist on National Conference on Representational Painting, Cape Cod Museum of Art, Dennis, MA

2006-09     U.S. Art in Embassies Program, Brazzaville, Republic of Congo

2001-03      U.S. Art in Embassies Program, Harare, Zimbabwe and Bemako, Mali

Selected Collections

• Blanden Memorial Art Museum, Fort Dodge, IA
• Butler Institute of American Art, Youngstown, OH
• Cape Cod Museum of Art, Dennis, MA
• Cedar Rapids Museum of Art, IA
• Indiana University Art Museum, IN
• Memorial Art Gallery, Rochester, NY
• Midwest Museum of American Art, Elkhart, IN
• 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, Maryland Artists Collection, College Park, MD
• Washington County Museum of Fine Arts, Hagerstown, MD
• Wilson College Permanent Collection, Chambersburg, PA
• Bank of Boston, Boston, MA
• Black and Decker, Baltimore, MD
• DuPont Corporation, Wilmington, DE
• Freeport McMoran, New Orleans, LA
• Johnson and Johnson, New Brunswick, NJ
• Midlantic Bank, New York, NY
• PECO Energy, Philadelphia, PA
• Pespsico, New York, NY
• United States Information Agency, Prague
• USAA, San Antonio, TX
• Washington Post, Washington, DC

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