John Koch’s portraits of New York high society offered an intimate view of a formal and refined world that is mostly gone now. He was deeply committed to the realist tradition of painting, even when modernism and abstraction dominated critical taste. His paintings capture a sense of nostalgia that resonates as deeply as his subject and exceptional artistic technique.

More than just a painter of high society, Koch stated: "I am quite visibly a realist, occupied essentially with human beings, the environments they create, and their relationships." In this regard the intention behind his work and his technical expertise evokes the Dutch masters of the seventeen century, who were principally preoccupied with capturing quiet, intimate, and luminous interiors. Koch's paintings are elegant and inviting, with a wealth of detail worth noticing.