Label Type
Object LabelLabel
Julian Stanczak
Professor Emeritus, Painting
Architectonic
Acrylic on canvas
1985
On loan courtesy of Barbara Stanczak
Cleveland Institute of Art Study Collection 2015.572Label Type
Cultural/Historical ContextLabel
Julian Stanczak was born in rural Poland in 1928. He was deported with his family when the Soviet Army took control in 1940 during World War II. At a soviet labor camp in Siberia, Stanczak suffered permanent loss of the use of his right arm due to abuse and disease. Although Stanczak encountered loss and abuse, this did not him back from pursuing art. He first enrolled at the Borough Polytechnic Institute to study. Two years later his family relocated to Cleveland Ohio. He continued his studies at the Cleveland Institute of Art and graduated in 1954. He achieved his MFA from Yale in 1956 and concentrated on color theory studying with Josef Albers. Stanczak began teaching at the Art Academy of Cincinnati and went on to become a painting professor at the Cleveland Institute of Art from 1964 to 1995.
He gained recognition at the forefront of American optical (“OP Art”) and perceptual art with his paintings. His work demonstrated his attention to craft, immaculate detail, and color interactions. In 1964, Stanczak emerged onto the New York art scene with an exhibition of “Optical Paintings” at the Martha Jackson Gallery.
Stanczak’s work transcends the surface with these three-part series of Architectonic 1, 2, and 3. These paintings can be seen as abstract landscapes, pulling Stanczak’s desire to translate moments in nature into his paintings. His work blends geometrical abstraction and color. Providing incredible, marvelous detail to create the visual effect that, “even texture less color is necessary so that the division and distribution of adjacent colors can be controlled. Only silkscreen can do that”1. The inclusion of screen-printing into the process of Stanczak’s work is methodical.
Julian Stanczak passed away on March 25, 2017, at his home in Seven Hills, Ohio.
A documentary of the career and life of Julian Stanczak premiered at the Cleveland Institute of Art on September 18, 2022, titled "Julian Stanczak: To Catch the Light".
