Brush With Life

In his autobiography, John Koerner explores the underpinnings of his long life as a painter in a lavishly illustrated art book with full-page colour prints of his paintings and many black-and-white photographs and drawings. Koerner describes his early life in Czechoslovakia, his art and philosophy studies at the Sorbonne, and his life as a student in the Latin Quarter of Paris in the 1930s. He discusses the patronage given to West Coast native art by his uncle Walter Koerner, and he illuminates his developing ideas about art through his friendships with other Canadian artists such as Lawren Harris, Bill Reid, Alistair Bell, Harry Askaskin and Toni Onley. He examines the role of important colleagues at the Vancouver School of Art and the University of British Columbia. Koerner also comments on many of his paintings, explaining his aspirations and what lies below the surface. At age ninety-two, Koerner is one of the last of the generation that developed modernism in Canadian art. This book will prove to be a valuable source book for art historians and curators, and of course for the many collectors of Koerner's art.Koerner, John is the author of 'Brush With Life ', published 2005 under ISBN 9781553800323 and ISBN 155380032X.