Born: May 23, 1930, Erie, Pennsylvania
Early days. His father was Adam Anuszkiewicz, mother- Victoria Ann Jankowski- both immigrants from Poland. Richard Anuszkiewicz studied at the Cleveland Institute of Art in Cleveland, Ohio (1948 – 1953). Having received a Pulitzer scholarship from the National Academy of Design in 1953 he studied with Josef Albers at the Yale University School of Art and Architecture in New Haven, CT (1953 – 1955) where he earned his M.S. in Fine Arts. In 1956 he got a B.S. in Education at Kent State University, Akron, OH.
Career. He was one of the founders and foremost exponents of an artistic style known as Optical Art or "Op Art.", a movement during the late 1960s and early 1970s that deals with visual sensations and the effects of optical illusions. Victor Vasarely in France and Bridget Riley in England were Anuszkiewicz’s primary international counterparts. In 1964, Life magazine called him "The New Wizard of Op." 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." Anuszkiewicz has exhibited at the Venice Biennale, Florence Biennale and Documenta, and his works are in permanent collections internationally. In 1960 Anuszkiewicz married Elizabeth Sally Feeney, from East Orange, New Jersey. In 1967 the couple and their three children moved to Englewood, New Jersey.
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 2010. 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. Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo; Art Institute of Chicago; Blanton Museum of Art, University of Texas; Boca Raton Museum of Art; 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; National Gallery of Art; Philadelphia Museum of Art; Tate Gallery, London, UK; Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford; Whitney Museum of Art, New York
Grants and Awards. 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 Childe Hassam Fund Purchase Award; 1988 Childe 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.
Source:
This article uses, among others, material from the Wikipedia article "Richard Anuszkiewicz" licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. :
Wikipedia (in Polish)
Other sources:
Picasso Mio
Artnet : photos of paintings and sale
123people (photos of paintings plus sale)
Art&Architecture of New Jersey
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