Anuskiewicz received his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from The Cleveland
Institute of Art
in 1953. He also attended Kent State University in Ohio. Like his
roommate,
Julian
Stanczak,
Anuskiewicz was a student of Joseph Albers at Yale
University,
where he received his
Master of Fine Arts degree in 1955. He shares Albers' fascination with
shapes and their
relationships to color. He embarked on his own career in the early 1950's
in New York City.
Since the 1950's his painting and sculpture has evolved in many ways
utilizing the "Op Art"
theory he developed. He is the quintessential American artist associated
with Op Art. Optical
art (or "Op art") refers to the idea of "optical illusion" or of creating
the illusion of
movement which appeared in full force in the 1960s. According to Karl
Lunde, "Op art is
direct and requires little previous knowledge of art. Children, as
Anuskiewicz has noted,
delight in it. Other viewers are aware of formal structure, relationships,
and complexities
but are just as delighted. This art appeals on as many levels as there
are levels of awareness
and experience."As the name implies, its practitioners were interested in
creating optical effects
by carefully controlling line (width and length) and color (intensity and
hue). The subject matter
is perception itself; no other content was intended by the artist. In
Anuskiewicz's painting
(From Blue), Anuskiewicz magically constructs the glowing, yellow center
from the cool, blue
border. Thus the title of the painting. Because yellow is a warm color, it
has a tendency to
"pop out" from the surface of the canvas, while cooler colors (like blue)
tend to recede.
This makes the center appear to be the top of a pyramid.
Optical Art was one particular movement in the area of Geometric
Abstraction. Geometric
Abstraction began in the early part of the 20th century with artists such
as Piet
Mondrian.
It continues into the 21st century through the works of artists such as Kenneth
Noland. Noland,
was born in Asheville, studied at Black Mountain College and was a student
of Julian Stanczak.
Anuskiewicz's first show in New York of what are now called "Op Art"
paintings occurred at The
Contemporaries Gallery in 1960. The Museum of Modern Art in New York
purchased one of the
paintings from that exhibition. In 1963, Anuskiewicz participated in
group shows at the
Museum of Modern Art and The Whitney Museum of American Art and was the
subject of a
complimentary article in Time magazine. Following the publication of that
article, Anuskiewicz
sold 17 paintings in one month.
Anuskiewicz's first one-person show at the prestigious Sidney Janis
Gallery in New York was in 1965.
According to Janis, Anuskiewicz was in such demand in the mid-1960s that
the waiting list of people
wanting to buy his work was longer than Jackson Pollack's, who was also
represented by Janis.
Anuskiewicz also participated that year in the landmark show "The
Responsive Eye" at the Museum
of Modern Art. By this time, Anuskiewicz had firmly established himself
as the leader in the
optical art movement.
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