Robert Koenig (1951 – 14 November 2023) was an English sculptor based in Sussex, who specialised in wood sculpture and was a prominent exponent of the art of woodcarving using the traditional tools of mallet and chisel.

In 1992, the artist Craigie Horsfield wrote: "Koenig drew from the culture of carving that was rooted in the folk art of Central Europe; a naturalist depiction of the world with mythic overtones.

It is no coincidence that the small renaissance of wood carving apparent in Europe should have happened in Germany; in our century the focus of the long struggle of nationalism and mystery.

The most visible of these has been Stefan Balkenhol, an artist making naturalistic painted figures acknowledging a tradition of Central European village carving.

Work in public and private collections in United Kingdom, USA, France, Italy, Malta, Sweden, Germany, Greece, China and Poland.

Growing up in the suburbs of Manchester, Koenig heard tales of his mother's childhood in south-east Poland, full of community and characters, superseded as he grew older by the altogether darker narrative of her wartime removal to Germany, the hell of the labour camps and her eventual arrival in the UK.

As his knowledge of that country grew, so did his realisation that he was shaped more deeply by his past: a sculpting contemporary of Anthony Gormley at London's prestigious Slade School of Art, Koenig suffered for his instinctive – and unfashionable – decision to work in wood, a form which he was now to appreciate as a distinctly Polish tradition.

As he matured, Koenig sought his defining project and so in 1997 began carving a series of greater-than-life-size figures, initially called "Dziady", the Polish name of a ceremony celebrating the memory of deceased ancestors, but since renamed "Odyssey" for what has become an international audience.

A mass of figures to represent the ancestors he never met, they are "monumental", although rather than crying out for attention, they appeal to the viewer on a more intimate, empathetic level, often inspiring strong emotions from those who come into contact with them.

At the sculptor's request they are currently touring unconventional venues – including a series of churches and cathedrals – in the UK, reaching out to 'ordinary' people rather than being cosseted in a gallery.

A major showing of the monumental Odyssey project consisting of 40 figures each 2.5 metres (8 ft 2 in) tall took place at St Martin-in-the-Fields, Trafalgar Square, London from 19 March to 20 July 2012.

Foreword to the catalogue of the Robert Koenig's retrospective exhibition 1982–2002 at the Cadzow Gallery, Chatelherault, Hamilton, Scotland, by distinguished Polish artist and rector of the Academy of Fine Arts in Krakow, Poland, Prof. Włodzimierz Kunz.

The results appear in an unexpected way and surprise even the very creator who in professional and often unavoidably routine activities forgets about the need to constantly test one's sensitivity for the presence of the authentic world untainted by aesthetic calligraphy.

Robert Koenig set in motion his own mechanism for perceiving matters which formed him through the experiences of the century in which many families and human groups gather knowledge about facts and exercise an adaptability to things both magnificent and tragic.

Whilst regularly visiting family lands he creates a saga, by now however for universal use, because art always has a scope which goes beyond the enclaves of even the most typical for human fate.

Due to suddenly declining physical health from glioblastoma as ordered by his doctor, Koening officially retired from woodcarving in August 2023 and left his work available at his studio in South Chailey.