Richard Anuszkiewicz American, 1930-2020

Anuszkiewicz was an integral member of the Op Art Movement, championing a visual style that made use of optical illusions. One of the foremost colorists in American art, Anuszkiewicz was mentored by Josef Albers, who influenced the young artist's interest in the effects of color on visual perception. Beginning in the 1960s, Anuszkiewicz created canvases boasting repetitive geometric patterns. A number of high profile exhibitions of his work at the Whitney during that decade sparked curatorial interest in his work. The exhibition Americans 1963 at the Museum of Modern Art, coupled with a Time Magazine article on the artist as well as the MOMA's 1965 exhibition The Responsive Eye cemented Anuszkiewicz' status as one of the preeminent American Op artists, if not its leader.