“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.
Richard Anuszkiewicz Metallic Water 1960s Op Art painting Art Institute 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
Richard Anusziewicz Annual Edition. Limited Ed. Op Art silkscreen on masonite
By Richard Anuszkiewicz
Located in New York, NY
Richard Anuszkiewicz Annual Edition, 1987-1988 Limited edition silkscreen on masonite Signed and dated by the artist lower right in pencil Frame Included (floated within a box frame)...
Masonite, Screen
Grey tinted Rainbow, Geometric Abstract dazzling Op Art Framed assemblage Signed
By Richard Anuszkiewicz
Located in New York, NY
RICHARD ANUSZKIEWICZ Grey Tinted Rainbow, 1992 Assemblage with 14 Color Silkscreen and Lithograph Pencil signed and numbered 11/40 on the front Frame included: elegantly framed in a ...
Mixed Media, Pencil, Lithograph, Screen
$3,000
H 17.07 in W 17 in
Variant I /// Josef Albers Abstract Geometric Screenprint Minimalism Bauhaus Art
By Josef Albers
Located in Saint Augustine, FL
Artist: Josef Albers (German-American, 1888-1976) Title: "Variant I" Portfolio: Ten Variants *Unsigned edition Year: 1967 Medium: Original Screenprint on Rives BFK paper Limited edit...
Screen
$22,000
H 21.69 in W 21.69 in
EK Ib /// Josef Albers Orange Screenprint Homage to the Square Abstract Bauhaus
By Josef Albers
Located in Saint Augustine, FL
Artist: Josef Albers (German-American, 1888-1976) Title: "EK Ib" Portfolio: Homage to the Square: Edition Keller Ia-Ik *Monogram signed and dated by Albers in pencil lower right Year...
Screen
$22,000
H 32.25 in W 28.19 in
Orange Meander /// Anni Albers Bauhaus Abstract Geometric Female Artist Screen
By Anni Albers
Located in Saint Augustine, FL
Artist: Anni Albers (German-American, 1899-1994) Title: "Orange Meander" Portfolio: Meander *Signed and dated by Albers in pencil lower right Year: 1970 Medium: Original Screenprint ...
Screen
$1,950
H 36 in W 36 in D 3 in
Sophisticated, Original Op Art Painting, Acrylic on Canvas, 36x36 inches
By Stan Slutsky
Located in Aventura, FL
Original painting on canvas. Hand signed on front; signed and titled on verso by the artist. Canvas is stretched. Artwork is in excellent condition. Certificate of Authenticity in...
Canvas, Acrylic
$20,000
H 33.25 in W 26.25 in D 2.25 in
"Untitled" screenprint by artist Pierre Soulages from "Kinderstern" portfolio
By Pierre Soulages
Located in Boca Raton, FL
"Untitled" abstract screenprint (Encrevé/Miessner Kat. N° 113) by artist Pierre Soulages from the "Kinderstern" portfolio published by Edition Domberger to raise money to house famil...
Screen
$985
H 17.75 in W 21.75 in D 1.75 in
Abstract Expressionism Painting Eclipse Color Shifting Metamorphic Modernist
Located in Buffalo, NY
A one of a kind signed original painting . Now you see it ... Now you don't! Excellent condition as pictured and framed ..Signed on the verso and monogram initials on the front by ...
Canvas, Paint, Acrylic
$1,800
H 33.13 in W 26.07 in
Galerie Wilbrand (Concord) Poster /// Josef Albers Screenprint Abstract Bauhaus
By Josef Albers
Located in Saint Augustine, FL
Artist: (after) Josef Albers (German-American, 1888-1976) Title: "Galerie Wilbrand (Concord)" Year: 1967 Medium: Original Screenprint, Exhibition Poster on heavy wove paper Limited e...
Screen
$1,200
H 15 in W 19.94 in
Untitled (Folio II / Folder 6, A) (Fenced) /// Josef Albers Abstract Geometric
By Josef Albers
Located in Saint Augustine, FL
Artist: Josef Albers (German-American, 1888-1976) Title: "Untitled (Folio II / Folder 6, A) (Fenced)" Portfolio: Formulation : Articulation (II), (Vol. 2) *Issued unsigned Year: 1972...
Screen
$1,895
H 25.5 in W 26 in D 2 in
Original Op Art Abstract Color Screenprint "Planetary Folklore" Signed #2/250
By Victor Vasarely
Located in Portland, OR
A Op Art abstract color screenprint, "Planetary Folklore" 1968, by Victor Vasarely (1906-1997). This very striking work by Vasarely is comprised of various colorful geometric shapes, the work is signed lower right "Vasarely" and numbered lower left "2/250. This is an early and crisp impression in excellent condition and housed under glass in a gilt & silvered hardwood frame. This very eye-catching work by one of the 20th century's leading Op artists is ready to hang on your wall. 14" x 14.50" at sight without frame Numered 2/250 A Franco-Hungarian painter, Victor Vasarely (1906-1997) first studied medicine before turning to art. In Budapest, he frequented artists from the Hungarian Bauhaus...
Lithograph, Handmade Paper, Color, Screen
$5,000
H 17 in W 16.94 in
Arrived /// Josef Albers Abstract Geometrical Screenprint 1960's Color Theory
By Josef Albers
Located in Saint Augustine, FL
Artist: Josef Albers (German-American, 1888-1976) Title: "Arrived" Portfolio: Soft Edge - Hard Edge *Unsigned edition Year: 1965 Medium: Original Screenprint on Mohawk Superfine Bris...
Screen
$14,000
H 24.5 in W 23.19 in
F /// Anni Albers Female Women Artist Abstract Geometric Screenprint Minimalist
By Anni Albers
Located in Saint Augustine, FL
Artist: Anni Albers (German-American, 1899-1994) Title: "F" Portfolio: (First) Triadic Series *Signed and dated by Albers in pencil lower right Year: 1969 Medium: Original Screenprin...
Screen
$1,100
H 39.25 in W 27.5 in
Swiss Artist Large Color Symphony Silkscreen Serigraph Print Kinetic Op Art
Located in Surfside, FL
Hand signed and numbered from edition of 90 Jakob Weder, (Switzerland, 1906-1990) Swiss color/music kinetic artist. known for his oil and tempera painting ...
Lithograph, Screen
Sold
H 8 in W 5.1 in D 0.2 in
Annual Edition, Lt. Ed. 1970s mixed media Op Art silkscreen on board hand signed
By Richard Anuszkiewicz
Located in New York, NY
Richard Anuszkiewicz Annual Edition, 1970 Silkscreen on Masonite Signed and dated in graphite pencil lower right recto. Edition of 100 8 × 5 1/10 × 1/5 inches Unframed Signed and dat...
Masonite, Screen, Graphite