John Koch was an American artist known for his realist paintings depicting light-filled interiors. He was born in 1909 in Toledo, Ohio, and although at the age of 14 he took some drawing lessons, he did not receive any formal art education and was self-taught. 
 
In 1928 Koch relocated from Ann Arbor, Michigan, where he had grown up, to New York City, before moving to Paris. There he taught himself to copy paintings in the Louvre and other museums and supported himself by painting portraits, and in 1934 he returned to New York. 
 
Koch's work Studio - End of day (oil on canvas), which sold at auction for $604,000, depicts a scene from his studio on Central Park West.  
 
Koch's work was exhibited widely during his...