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What is art that looks 3D called?
1 Answer

Art that looks 3D is called Op art. The Op art movement emerged in the 1960s, mirroring the counterculture of the time in its embrace of visual trickery, graphic shapes and bright colors. Spreading across Europe and the Americas, the style — short for “optical art” — influenced advertising, fashion and interior design before fading in the early ’70s. Op art remained significant, however, for artists and scientists interested in the nature of perception. And today, it’s seeing a resurgence of interest from collectors and interior designers. Some notable artists who created Op art include Victor Vasarely, Josef Albers, Bridget Riley and Jesús Rafael Soto. Find a diverse assortment of Op art on 1stDibs.
1stDibs ExpertNovember 13, 2024
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Shop for Op Art on 1stDibs
Near and Far Acuity, Signed Mid Century Modern Op Art painting, historic exhibit
Located in New York, NY
Richard Anuszkiewicz
Near and Far Acuity, 1957
Gouache and watercolor painting
Hand signed and dated 1957 by Richard Anuszkiewicz on the right front
Frame included
Anuszkiewicz' artw...
Category
Mid-20th Century Op Art Abstract Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Mixed Media, Watercolor, Gouache
Broken Ice, Large Mid-20th Century Gouache, Op Art Cleveland School Artist
By Edwin Mieczkowski
Located in Beachwood, OH
Edwin Mieczkowski (American, 1929-2017)
Broken Ice, 1976
Gouache and pencil on paper
Signed, dated (Feb. 2, 1976) and titled lower right
27.5 x 37.75 inches
35 x 45 inches, framed
Edwin Mieczkowski, born in Pittsburgh, was a leader of geometric and perceptual abstraction during the latter part of the 20th century. Mieczkowski's work first came to prominence in "The Responsive Eye" exhibition, the nation's first major exhibition of perceptual art, held at the Museum of Modern Art in New York in 1965.
Mieczkowski was also featured in the 1964 article in Timemagazine that first used the term "Op Art" to describe paintings that manipulated visual cues in order to reorder and excite viewers' perceptual responses.
With a complex aesthetic that over time has transcended mere tricks of optical art, Mieczkowski has spent nearly four decades producing geometrically paintings, drawings and sculptures, a genre of modern art that is known broadly as perceptual abstraction.
His output of static and dynamic forms create a body of work, still largely intact, that uses visually disorienting, meticulously arranged lines, dazzling kaleidoscopic colors, and alluring juxtapositions of hue and tone, to playfully and seductively present new challenges for the viewer's eyes. The desired result is an optical effect of perpetual motion, harmonics and rhythm. . . .
Along with Frank Hewitt and Ernst Benkert, Mieczkowski was a co-founder in 1959 of the Anonima* group that worked together in Cleveland and New York and declared itself free from the pressures of the art market and the pursuit of personal fame. Members of Anonima often left their works unsigned and vowed to shun the usual art market venues such as commercial galleries, biennials and competitions. Instead, they engaged in a rigorous, self-imposed program of painting exercises to explore the effects of geometry and color on visual perception.
Although Mieczkowski's work hung side-by-side in the MOMA "Responsive Eye" exhibition with such colleagues as Josef Albers, Victor Vasarely, Richard Anuszkiewicz, Morris Louis, Kenneth Noland, Carlos Cruz-Diaz, Ad Reinhardt and Bridget Riley, all of whom went on to considerable fame and fortune, Mieczkowski chose to eschew commercial exhibition and career promotion. Instead, he spent 39 years teaching at the Cleveland Institute of Art and quietly executing a number of public art commissions while independently pursuing his own intuitive explorations in geometric abstraction.
Mieczkowski pursued virtually no commercial sales of his work. Consequently, the body of work he left behind consists of hundreds of paintings, drawings and sculptures only recently viewed...
Category
1970s Op Art Figurative Paintings
Materials
Gouache, Pencil
Bridget Riley, Rare historic LT Ed Richard Feigen Gallery 1965 Op Art print
Located in New York, NY
Bridget Riley
Richard Feigen Gallery 1965 Op Art poster, 1965
Offset lithograph poster
Limited Edition of approx. 300 (unnumbered)
21 × 17 inches
Unframed
Very rare early Bridget Ri...
Category
1960s Op Art Abstract Prints
Materials
Lithograph, Offset
Rear Window View, Purple Pastel Tones, Mauve Hue Abstract Diptych, Aurora Print
Located in Barcelona, ES
Cyd Fontaine (Lausanne, 1992) is a contemporary artist renowned for her captivating use of dreamy atmospheric gradients, which has helped her carve a distinctive niche in the world o...
Category
2010s Op Art Abstract Prints
Materials
Photographic Paper, C Print, Giclée, Archival Pigment
Projet de tapisserie, Société internationale d'art XXe siècle
Located in Auburn Hills, MI
Lithograph on vélin paper. Paper Size: 12.4 x 9.65 inches. Inscription: Unsigned and unnumbered, as issued. Notes: From the album, XXe siècle, Nouvelle série N° 4 (double) Janvier 19...
Category
1950s Op Art Abstract Prints
Materials
Lithograph
$796 Sale Price
20% Off
Rubin from Album Lapidaire - Op Art
Located in London, GB
Victor Vasarely (Hungarian/French, 1906-1997)
Rubin, 1964
Screenprint in Colours
from the Lapidaire portfolio
signed in pencil lower right with blind stamp, numbered edition "41/15...
Category
1960s Op Art Abstract Prints
Materials
Screen