“I’m interested,” Richard Anuszkiewicz (1930–2020) once said, “in making something romantic out of a very, very mechanistic geometry.” Anuszkiewicz sought to achieve this romance through works juxtaposing vibrant colors in geometric configurations. The perceptual effects he created helped define the American Op art movement.
Anuszkiewicz studied color theory at Yale under Josef Albers and was greatly influenced by Albers’s approach. “The image in my work has always been determined by what I wanted the color to do,” Anuszkiewicz explained in a 1974 catalogue. “Color function becomes my subject matter, and its performance is my painting.”
He departed from his mentor, however, in the pulsating, illusory qualities he gave his work. One of his most famous paintings, Deep Magenta Square (1978), although similar in composition to Albers’s “Homage to the Square” series, is distinctly Op art in the way the striations surrounding the central square seem to vibrate and jump off the canvas.
Anuszkiewicz spent his entire career exploring optical effects through the manipulation of line and color, producing spectacular and timeless pieces of art. “Working with basic ideas will always be exciting,” he said in 1977. “And if a color or form is visually exciting in any profound sense, it will be that way in 10 or 20 years from now.”
Browse a variety of paintings and prints by Richard Anuszkiewicz at 1stDibs.
| Average Sold Price |
| $2,792 |
| Materials |
| Related Artists |
"Yellow Reversed" original lithograph
By Richard Anuszkiewicz
Located in Henderson, NV
Medium: original lithograph. Printed in 1970 and published by Art In America. Size: 11 1/4 x 16 3/4 inches (283 x 427 mm). This lithograph was published as a folded sheet with a cent...
Lithograph
$1,500
H 25.5 in W 19.75 in
Inward Eye, #1 Geometric Abstract OP Art Screenprint by Richard Anuszkiewicz
By Richard Anuszkiewicz
Located in Long Island City, NY
Richard Anuszkiewicz (American, 1930 - ) created the "Inward Eye" portfolio after a conversation with a friend who said that Anuszkiewcz's works reminded him of William Blake's work....
Screen
Sun Keyed, OP Art Screenprint by Richard Anuszkiewicz
By Richard Anuszkiewicz
Located in Long Island City, NY
Artist: Richard Anuszkiewicz, American (1930 - ) Title: Sun Keyed Year: 1972 Medium: Screenprint (unsigned) Edition: 3000 Image Size: 12 x 14 inches Size: 14 x 18 in. (35.56 x 45....
Screen
$5,500
H 38 in W 46 in
Soft Lime, Signed/N 1970s geometric abstraction by renowned Op Artist 38" x 46"
By Richard Anuszkiewicz
Located in New York, NY
Richard Anuszkiewicz Soft Lime, 1976 8 Color silkscreen on Lenox 100% Cotton paper 38 × 46 inches Pencil signed and numbered 41/75 on the front; bears printers blind stamp from NYIT (New York Institute of Technology) Unframed We have not seen another example of this gorgeous mid century silkscreen...
Screen, Pencil
$88,000
H 41.5 in W 41.5 in D 2 in
Metallic Water, unique 1960s Op Art painting (signed), Art Institute of Chicago
By Richard Anuszkiewicz
Located in New York, NY
Richard Anuszkiewicz Metallic Water, 1964 Painting with Liquitex on canvas. (1964 Art Institute of Chicago Exhibition and J.L. Hudson Gallery) Signed boldly and dated 1964 on the ver...
Mixed Media, Acrylic, Canvas
$1,800
H 33.25 in W 26.75 in
Celebrate New York, OP Art Screenprint by Richard Anuszkiewicz 1973
By Richard Anuszkiewicz
Located in Long Island City, NY
Celebrate New York Richard Anuszkiewicz, American (1930–2020) Date: 1973 Screenprint, signed, dated, and numbered in pencil lower right Edition of 300 Image Size: 29 x 22 inches Size...
Screen
Richard Anuszkiewicz, Soft Blue
By Richard Anuszkiewicz
Located in Madrid, ES
RICHARD ANUSZKIEWICZ American, 1930 - 2020 SOFT BLUE signed, dated and numbered “© RICHARD ANUSZKIEWICZ / 1984 / 737” (on the reverse) acrylic on canvas 48 x 60 inches (122 x 152.5 c...
Canvas, Acrylic
Red II, OP Art Screenprint on Panel by Anuszkiewicz
By Richard Anuszkiewicz
Located in Long Island City, NY
Artist: Richard Anuszkiewicz, American (1930 - ) Title: Untitled - Red Year: 1991 Medium: Silkscreen on Panel mounted to Silkscreened Paper, signed and numbered in pencil Edition: 6...
Screen
| Sold Date | Sold Price | Category | Medium | Creation Year | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| $2,792 |
Average sold price of items in the past 12 months |
| $1,000-$6,500 |
| Sold price range of items in the past 12 months |