James R. Koenig was an artist, designer and business owner who lived and worked in the Buffalo, New York area. He was a student of the Art Institute of Buffalo in the 1940s after serving and being injured as a U.S. Army sergeant in Normandy during World War II. He graduated from the University of Buffalo in 1952.
His abstract paintings have been shown at the Brooklyn Museum, Cooperstown Gallery, Chautauqua Institute, the Rochester Memorial Gallery, the Albright-Knox Art Gallery and the Butler Art Institute in Ohio. He also had a career as a design director of publications and technical design at several firms in the Buffalo area.
In 1977, he opened an art supply retail store called Art Tree in Buffalo, NY.
His paintings reflected many phases of particularly American styles, American scene/WPA period, Abstract Expressionism and geometric abstraction. His experience in design was evident in the well-composed structures and surfaces in his paintings. He had an instinctive affinity for color and form, and an uninhibited bold approach to every subject that he painted. He also was a member of the Buffalo Print Club.