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Richard Anuszkiewicz Paintings

American

“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.

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Artist: Richard Anuszkiewicz
Temple of Evening Reds, 1983 Acrylic OpArt by Cleveland School Artist
By Richard Anuszkiewicz
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 Richard Anuszkiewicz Paintings

Materials

Acrylic

Pale Pink
By Richard Anuszkiewicz
Located in Palm Desert, CA
"Pale Pink" is an abstract Post War acrylic painting by Richard Anuszkiewicz in 1980. The artwork is 48 1/4 x 48 1/4 inches and, with the frame, is 49 1/4 x 49 1/4 x 2 inches. It is ...
Category

Late 20th Century Post-War Richard Anuszkiewicz Paintings

Materials

Acrylic

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...
Category

1960s Op Art Richard Anuszkiewicz Paintings

Materials

Mixed Media, Acrylic, Canvas

Richard Anuszkiewicz 1963 Original Painting
By Richard Anuszkiewicz
Located in San Francisco, CA
Richard Anuszkiewicz: 1930-2020. Very important and well listed American artist. He has auction results as high as $250,000. He was the leader of what would be called OP Art short fo...
Category

1960s Op Art Richard Anuszkiewicz Paintings

Materials

Acrylic

Translumina
By Richard Anuszkiewicz
Located in Palm Desert, CA
"Translumina" is an abstract Post War acrylic on wood painting by Richard Anuszkiewicz in 1988. The artwork is 48 x 48 in. It is signed verso, "Richard Anuszkiewicz 1988". Op Art em...
Category

20th Century Post-War Richard Anuszkiewicz Paintings

Materials

Wood, Acrylic

Old Door
By Richard Anuszkiewicz
Located in New York, NY
Richard Anuszkiewicz Old Door, 1953 Watercolor on paper Signed and dated by the artist on the lower right front 20 × 14 inches Unframed This unique and extre...
Category

1950s American Modern Richard Anuszkiewicz Paintings

Materials

Paper, Watercolor

Near and Far Acuity, Mid Century Modern Op Art painting from historic exhibition
By Richard Anuszkiewicz
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' artworks from the late 1950s are rarely found on the market. This historic painting is one of the works that helped launch the artist's career. It was done in 1957 - the year the artist arrived in New York. Near and Far Acuity has been removed from its original frame, and re-framed in an elegant wood frame with conservation materials and UV plexiglass. The original gallery label from The Contemporaries has been preserved and affixed to the new backing, and the collector who acquires this work will also be provided with a copy of the original receipt - signed by Karl Lunde (director of the Contemporaries and author of a major monograph on the artist). Measurements: Frame: 32 x 28 x 2 inches Artwork: 21 x 25 inches This work was first exhibited in the groundbreaking, and career-making 1960 exhibition at The Contemporaries gallery (New York, February 29, 1960 - March 19, 1960) and was featured in the exhibition catalogue, shown in the images here. In his essay entitled "Richard Anuszkiewicz: Color Precisionist" by art historian John T. Spike, he writes, "In the spring of '57, Richard Anuszkiewicz left Ohio for good. "I was ready. I came to New York with a substantial amount of work. I was ready to go around to the galleries and I was prepared because I really had something. I had an idea. I had a series of paintings that showed this idea and I felt good about it and I felt now that's the only place for me to be." A friend helped him get a job touching up the plaster models of classical temples and statues in the Junior Museum of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. He took off six months the next year to travel around Europe in a Volkswagen, also seeing some places in North Africa. "When I came back, I remember taking my work around to the galleries and receiving interesting comments — positive comments from the various people. But Abstract Expressionism was very popular. My things were very hard-edged, very strong in color — a use of color that nobody was using. Everybody would say. 'Oh, they are nice, but so hard to look at. They hurt my eyes". Leo Castelli considered him seriously but the gallery was developing a specialization in pop artists like Jasper Johns and Robert Rauschenberg. "I can remember going to Martha Jackson and having her look at the work and she would put her hands straight out in front of her and block out parts of the painting with her hand and she'd say, mmm no rest areas." He finally caught on with The Contemporaries Gallery in the fall of 1959. The gallery at 992 Madison Avenue mainly represented new European talent. Karl Lunde, the gallery director, saw some of his canvases hanging...
Category

1950s Op Art Richard Anuszkiewicz Paintings

Materials

Watercolor, Gouache, Mixed Media

Light Magenta Square
By Richard Anuszkiewicz
Located in Long Island City, NY
Artist: Richard Anuszkiewicz Title: Light Magenta Square Year: 1978 Medium: Acrylic on Canvas, signed and dated verso Size: 60 x 60 inches Referenced as 1978.9, pg 184 in "Anuszkiew...
Category

1970s Op Art Richard Anuszkiewicz Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Acrylic

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Richard Anuszkiewicz paintings for sale on 1stDibs.

Find a wide variety of authentic Richard Anuszkiewicz paintings available for sale on 1stDibs. If you’re browsing the collection of paintings to introduce a pop of color in a neutral corner of your living room or bedroom, you can find work that includes elements of red, blue, orange and other colors. You can also browse by medium to find art by Richard Anuszkiewicz in paint, acrylic paint, synthetic resin paint and more. Much of the original work by this artist or collective was created during the 20th century and is mostly associated with the abstract style. Not every interior allows for large Richard Anuszkiewicz paintings, so small editions measuring 12 inches across are available. Customers who are interested in this artist might also find the work of Dan Christensen, Ben Wilson, and Erle Loran. Richard Anuszkiewicz paintings prices can differ depending upon medium, time period and other attributes. On 1stDibs, the price for these items starts at $23,500 and tops out at $175,000, while the average work can sell for $65,000.

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