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"Richard Anuszkiewicz
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Richard Anuszkiewicz (born May 23, 1930, Erie, Pennsylvania) is an American artist. (His last name is pronounced: ""Aah-Nuss-Kay-Vitch"" with the accent on the third syllable.)
Life and work
Richard Anuszkiewicz trained at the Cleveland Institute of Art in Cleveland, Ohio (1948 – 1953), and then with Josef Albers at the Yale University School of Art and Architecture in New Haven, Connecticut (1953 – 1955) where he earned his Masters of Fine Arts.
He was one of the founders and foremost exponents of Op Art, a movement during the late 1960s and early 1970s.[1] Victor Vasarely in France and Bridget Riley in England were his primary international counterparts. In 1964, Life magazine called him ""The New Wizard of Op.""[2] More recently, while reflecting on a New York City gallery show of Anuszkiewicz's from 2000, the New York Times art critic Holland Cotter described Anuszkiewicz's paintings by stating, ""The drama -- and that feels like the right word -- is in the subtle chemistry of complementary colors, which makes the geometry glow as if light were leaking out from behind it."" [3] Anuszkiewicz has exhibited at the Venice Biennale, Florence Biennale and Documenta, and his works are in permanent collections internationally.
Style
Considered a major force in the Op Art movement, Anuszkiewicz is concerned with the optical changes that occur when different high-intensity colors are applied to the same geometric configurations. Most of his work comprises visual investigations of formal structural and color effects, many of them nested square forms similar to the work of his mentor Josef Albers. In his series, ""Homage to the Square,"" Albers experimented with juxtapositions of color, and Anuszkiewicz developed these concepts further. Anuszkiewicz has continued to produce works in the Op Art style over the last few decades. A catalogue raisonné of Anuszkiewicz's paintings is currently being drafted under the auspices of the contemporary art critic John Spike and will be published in 2008.
Anuszkiewicz summarizes his approach to painting as follows: ""My work is of an experimental nature and has centered on an investigation into the effects of complementary colors of full intensity when juxtaposed and the optical changes that occur as a result, and a study of the dynamic effect of the whole under changing conditions of light, and the effect of light on color."" (from a statement by the artist for the exhibition ""Americans 1963"" at the Museum of the Modern Art)
Selected Museums Holding Works
Deep Magenta Square, 1978: An example of Anuszkiewicz's use of colors, squares and lines
Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo
Art Institute of Chicago
Blanton Museum of Art, University of Texas
Chicago Museum of Contemporary Art
Cleveland Museum of Art
Columbus Museum of Art
Denver Museum of Art
Detroit Institute of Arts
Flint Institute of Arts
Fogg Museum of Art, Harvard University
Guggenheim Museum, New York
Hokkaido Museum of Modern Art
Metropolitan Museum of Art
Museum of Contemporary Art Jacksonville
Museum of Modern Art, New York
Philadelphia Museum of Art
Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford
Whitney Museum of Art, New York
Grants and Awards
Temple of the Radiant Yellow, 1985: From the series of ""Temple"" paintings in the 1980's that were inspired by a visit Anuszkiewicz made to Egypt
1953 Pulitzer Traveling Fellowship
1963 Charles of the Ritz Oil Painting Award
1964 The Silvermine Guild Award for Oil Painting
1977 Cleveland Arts Prize
1980 Hassam Fund Purchase Award
1988 Hassam Fund Purchase Award
1994 New York State Art Teachers' Association Award
1995 Emil and Dines Carlson Award
1996 New Jersey Pride Award
1997 Richard Florsheim Fund Grant
2000 Lee Krasner Award
2005 Lorenzo di Medici Medal, awarded at the Florence Biennale
Notes and references
^ New York Times. December 15, 2000. By Holland Cotter, p. E41.
^ Life. December 11, 1964 ""Op Art."" p. 132.
^ Op. Cit. New York Times.
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