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Op Art Figurative Paintings

OP ART STYLE

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 — whose name is 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.

Op artists played with the principles of perception, manipulating line, shape, patterns and color to create the illusion of depth and movement. They drew on and evolved methods developed by past movements, from Impressionism to Abstract Expressionism, to produce intense visual experiences.

All the Op artists shared a focus on the gap between what is and what we perceive. Each, however, had a distinct approach to the issue and a unique visual style.

On 1stDibs, find a collection of Op art that includes works by Josef Albers, Bridget Riley, Jesús Rafael Soto and more.

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Style: Op Art
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

Temple of Evening Reds, 1983 Acrylic OpArt by Cleveland School Artist
Located in Beachwood, OH
Richard Anuszkiewicz (American, 1930-2020) Temple of Evening Reds, 1983 Acrylic on canvas Signed verso 36 x 36 inches 36.75 x 36.75 inches, framed Richard Anuszkiewicz was born in E...
Category

1980s Op Art Figurative Paintings

Materials

Acrylic

"Olympic Star" Large Scale Woman Surfer Figurative by Erle Loran
Located in Soquel, CA
"Olympic Star", Large Scale Woman Surfer Figurative by Erle Loran Vibrant hard edge painting of a surfer "Olympic Star," a bold and bright figurative piece by Erle Loran (American,...
Category

1960s Op Art Figurative Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Acrylic, Stretcher Bars

Back to the future
Located in Palm Beach, FL
Ferruccio Gard (Italy, 1940) is one of the pioneers and leading artist representatives of the Neo-Constructivist art, Programmed Art and Optical Art, which he has practiced since 196...
Category

2010s Op Art Figurative Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Acrylic

The emotion of the color 19-3
Located in Palm Beach, FL
Ferruccio Gard (Italy, 1940) is one of the pioneers and leading artist representatives of the Neo-Constructivist art, Programmed Art and Optical Art, which he has practiced since 1969. He is considered to be a master of colour, in his painting Gard creates original formal and compositional solutions of forms and colours. Exploring the geometric composition with chromatic and special themes Gards clasps the complexity of black and white and the extremes of the tonal scale of colours. Gard's work have been the subject of many writers, including Piero Dorazio and Virgilio Guidi, as well as renowned poets art art curators such as Jorge Amado...
Category

2010s Op Art Figurative Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Acrylic

Modern Green, White & Black Abstract Geometric Kimono Collagraph, Masterplate #1
Located in Soquel, CA
Modern Green, White & Black Abstract Geometric Kimono Collagraph, Masterplate #1 Unique mixed media work created from a Master plate for collagraph printmaking, featuring a bold and...
Category

1980s Op Art Figurative Paintings

Materials

Gesso, Silk, Masonite, Ink, Acrylic

Inside the energy of color 18-3
Located in Palm Beach, FL
Ferruccio Gard (Italy, 1940) is one of the pioneers and leading artist representatives of the Neo-Constructivist art, Programmed Art and Optical Art, which he has practiced since 196...
Category

2010s Op Art Figurative Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Acrylic

Variazioni fra Bianco, Grigio, Nero e Altro
Located in Palm Beach, FL
Contemporary Op Art Painting by Ferruccio Gard, Italian, 1941
Category

2010s Op Art Figurative Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Acrylic

Op-art contemporary colourful acrylic painting "Movement as a Message"
Located in Palm Beach, FL
Ferruccio Gard (Italy, 1940) is one of the pioneers and leading artist representatives of the Neo-Constructivist art, Programmed Art and Optical Art, which he has practiced since 1969. He is considered to be a master of colour, in his painting Gard creates original formal and compositional solutions of forms and colours. Exploring the geometric composition with chromatic and special themes Gards clasps the complexity of black and white and the extremes of the tonal scale of colours. Gard's work have been the subject of many writers, including Piero Dorazio and Virgilio Guidi, as well as renowned poets art art curators such as Jorge Amado...
Category

1980s Op Art Figurative Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Acrylic

Colourful, op-art, modern painting "Movimenti Cinetici"
Located in Palm Beach, FL
Ferruccio Gard (Italy, 1940) is one of the pioneers and leading artist representatives of the Neo-Constructivist art, Programmed Art and Optical Art, which he has practiced since 1969. He is considered to be a master of colour, in his painting Gard creates original formal and compositional solutions of forms and colours. Exploring the geometric composition with chromatic and special themes Gards clasps the complexity of black and white and the extremes of the tonal scale of colours. Gard's work have been the subject of many writers, including Piero Dorazio and Virgilio Guidi, as well as renowned poets art art curators such as Jorge Amado...
Category

1990s Op Art Figurative Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Acrylic

MOSTRA Abstract chromatism in round shape
Located in Palm Beach, FL
Ferruccio Gard (Italy, 1940) is one of the pioneers and leading artist representatives of the Neo-Constructivist art, Programmed Art and Optical Art, which he has practiced since 196...
Category

2010s Op Art Figurative Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Acrylic

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$1,000 Sale Price
20% Off
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Op Art figurative paintings for sale on 1stDibs.

Find a wide variety of authentic Op Art figurative paintings available for sale on 1stDibs. Many Pop art paintings were created by popular artists on 1stDibs, including Ferruccio Gard, and Patricia A Pearce. Not every interior allows for large Op Art figurative paintings, so small editions measuring 0 inches across are also available.

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