Henry Koerner (American, 1915-1991), Untitled (Jack-o-Lanterns and Figures)

Watercolor on paper, 1990, signed and dated at lower right, matted and framed under glass.

Sight size 17 1/2 x 23 1/4 in.; Frame dimensions 24 x 29 3/4 in.

Henry Koerner was an Austrian-American painter and a significant figure within the Magic Realism movement. Born in Vienna, he fled Nazi-occupied Europe in 1938 and settled in the United States, where he developed a career spanning commercial illustration and fine art. His work combined precise realism with surreal and symbolic elements, exploring themes of memory, displacement, and psychology. Koerner demonstrated exceptional mastery of watercolor, achieving remarkable depth and technical complexity in the medium.

Koerner's work is held in the permanent collections of major institutions including the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Museum of Modern Art in New York, and the Smithsonian American Art Museum. His paintings have been featured in numerous retrospectives and remain important examples of mid-century American Magic Realism. In addition to his easel paintings, Koerner worked as an illustrator for Fortune magazine and created murals for public spaces, though his watercolors are particularly celebrated for their technical skill and introspective quality.

Good estate condition; not examined out of the frame.