John Koerner was born in Moravia in 1913. He studied law in Prague and art in Paris and Geneva. Because of pre – World War II turmoil, his family and him left Prague and moved to Vancouver, Canada in 1939. Here he was working for his family’s lumber business until 1951. His three uncles, Leon, Otto and Walter Koerner actually started Alaska Pine Company. Leon Koerner with his wife Thea later established the Koerner Foundation to support cultural and creative arts and the social services that serve communities throughout British Columbia. Walter Koerner was also a patron of the arts. He donated his European ceramic art collection to theMuseum of Anthropology at UBC. The Walter C. Koerner Library, opened in 1997, is named in his honor.

In 1951 the lumber company was sold and John Koerner could fully focus on being a painter and art teacher at the Vancouver School of Art and at UBC.

Interview with John Koerner

Although he is now 100 years old, he has never stopped painting and he is the oldest active member of the Vancouver School of Painters. His art is undeniably some of the most influential in developing modernism in Canadian art.

Feeling very privileged, I entered Mr. Koerner’s apartment to find a charming and modest man. His voice was soft and calm, his smile was a tell tale sign of love for humor, and his eyes were emanating the same light as his paintings which were covering most of his studio walls. His art, both abstract and nature inspired, is painted with a vivid palette of warm colours or brilliant blues and greens.  The place was very peaceful; maybe because the colours in the pictures were colours of ripe wheat in the summer, the brush strokes soft, gentle and careful. Even though there were thousands questions on my mind I wanted to ask (the man in front of me was born during the reign of Franz Josef I of Austria, was in Paris at the same time as Georges Braque, Pablo Picasso or Le Corbusier!), I promised his lovely wife Lisa (Lisa Birnie, renowned journalist and writer), that I would only stay for half an hour.

Mr. Koerner, you were born in the Austro – Hungarian Monarchy in 1913. What do you remember about growing up?
I was born in Moravia, but we moved to Prague when I was four years old. At that time I was given a little box that contained coloured crayons. With them I painted walls of my nursery and that was my first mural. Also I thought then, that I my profession should be an artist.

Pursuing your dream, you went to study art to Paris at a very young age. How did you find life in this center of vibrant artistic activity?
I was sent to study French during my holidays when I was in my teens. I went to Paris and spent my time drawing and painting. Later I returned to Paris (1935 – 1938) and studied with Paul Colin who was a painter of wonderful posters. I also worked with Victor Tischler and we became very good friends. I remember I would go to his studio at 9 o’clock in the morning and I found him already painting. All he would wear was a towel around his middle, because when he woke up he was so intense, he couldn’t wait to get dressed. That is my memory of Paris. We went together to many exhibitions. When Salvador Dali had his first exhibition, we went there, but unfortunately, didn’t meet him.

Your paintings are full of energy and vivid colors. Where does your positive thinking come from?
That is a mystery. My father used to be a very energetic person, but very pessimistic, and when I was in my teens I decided that I am not going to be like that. And I have been positive ever since. What I am trying to do in my paintings is to give something of that feeling to others. It depends very much on your general outlook on things. My objective is to present sort of a celebration that people will feel good about when they see it.

Do you listen to music when you are painting?
No, I have to have complete quiet and I have to concentrate. But I like to listen to classical music and chamber music. I like and listen to many composers, such as: Mozart, Smetana, Beethoven…

How do you see your art evolving over the years?
The changes that I know about or realized have to do with themes. I have certain subjects I have concentrated about. For example my paintings of a lighthouse, I have around 360 of them. Of course, I don’t paint a lighthouse, I am trying to indicate a source of eternal light.

Usually I concentrate on one painting, sometimes I work on two or three. I don’t do any sketches outside, I do memory paintings. Sometimes I wake up in the morning and I know exactly which direction I want to go in my day. I’ve done couple of small paintings lately, because I was sick and I couldn’t do anything big. Now I can’t paint every day, I have my off days. I like to read or listen to music.

I have a painting from Bo Yin Ra, who was my spiritual teacher.
He was a German artist who lived in Switzerland (J.A. Schneiderfranken,1876-1943) who published more than 30 books under the pseudonym of Bo Yin Ra. ). In my paintings I am trying to visually come close to expressing his teachings. When I was 19 years old, I went to Switzerland to study and I asked a friend of mine what would he recommend to read. He suggested I should stop in Basel and meet Dr. Alfred Kober, the publisher. That is how I discovered Bo Yin Ra. I’ve been reading his books ever since. I have lots of them in the German original version and some translations. This proved to be an enormously important discovery, for it has influenced my life and my work ever since.

Mr. Koerner, do you thing that young people have enough knowledge about art?
There is a tendency to go after something new, no matter how it is represented. This kind of drive for the latest trends seems to overcome the quality.

When and where we can see your paintings?
I am going to have an exhibition in September in Penticton. It will be a retrospective show. I know a director, Paul Crawford, and he likes my paintings. We know each other very well. He invited me to have a show there. Paul Crawford has an intense passion for history and is very knowledgeable of modern art on the West Coast.

 “Creativity occurs in the kitchen, in the workshop, on the playing field or at an office.” — John Koerner

John Koerner lived most of his life in Canada. But he never forgot about his roots. In 1990 he visited Prague with his family. Inspired after the visit he painted ‘Slavonic Dances’. The other picture inspired by his memories is called ‘Prague Remembered’. One of John Koerner’s pictures was bought by late Mr.Vaclav Havel (former president of Czech Republic, 1936 – 2011).

When I asked what is he missing the most from his old country, he replied: “The bread, of course”.

Interview by: Svetlana Bardos, June 2013

Photo: Jan Zeman