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John Franklin Koenig was born on October 24, 1924, in Seattle, Washington. He attended Lincoln High School and began college at the University of Washington, but left in 1943 to serve in World War II in the 11th Armored Division, 22nd Battalion in France. Following the war, Koenig returned to Seattle and re-enrolled at the University of Washington in 1948, where he earned his Bachelor of Arts in Romance Languages with a minor in Art. While in Seattle, he became familiar with the Northwest School of Art, particularly the work of Morris Graves and Mark Tobey. He returned to France in 1948 to study French literature and remained there for the majority of his life, though he returned to live in Seattle in 2004.

While in France, Koenig studied at La Sorbonne in Paris. In 1952, he co-founded the international art magazine Cimaise with Jean-Robert Arnaud, with whom he had worked at Arnaud's bookstore. Koenig and Arnaud also opened the Galerie Arnuad, where Koenig held his first solo art exhibition in 1952. Koenig's work has since been featured in hundreds of exhibits throughout Europe, North America, Africa, and Asia. In 1985, Koenig was named Officier de l'Ordre des Arts and Lettres by the French Ministry of Culture, an award rarely given to a person who is not of French origin. He also won the Gold Medal of the City of Paris that same year.

John Franklin Koenig died in 2008.