Richard Anuszkiewicz, Metallic Water, 1964.

Richard Anuszkiewicz

Metallic Water, 1964

Painting with Liquitex. (1964 Art Institute of Chicago Exhibition and J.L. Hudson Gallery)

Signed boldly and dated 1964 on the verso with exhibition label from the Art Institute of Chicago and the J.L. Hudson Gallery Labels

Frame included

Exhibition history:
Art Institute of Chicago, Society for Contemporary Art, 24th Annual Exhibition, May 8 to May 41, 1964
Hudson Galleries

Provenance
Exhibition label from the Art Institute of Chicago
J.L. Hudson Gallery
Mr. and Mrs. Michael D. Maremont

“I’m interested in making something romantic out of a very, very mechanistic geometry. Geometry and color represent to me an idealized classical place that’s very clear and very pure.” - Richard Anuskiewicz

This dazzling, yet also subtle Richard Anuszkiewicz Op Art painting was exhibited at the Art Institute of Chicago in 1964, and bears the original exhibition label, originally sold by the J.L. Hudson Gallery (see more about J.L. Hudson below). Created in 1964 - at the height of the Op Art movement, when Anuszkiewicz was represented by Sidney Janis Gallery - and the year he was featured on the cover of LIFE Magazine as the founder and chief exponent of the Op Art movement here in the United States. For the Anuszkiewicz collector, this is a classic: the right year, the right color and style, the right size, with the right provenance. According to the Art Institute of Chicago's records, as well as the original label on the verso of the frame, this work was exhibited in 1964 in the Society for Contemporary Art - 24th Annual, on May 8th to May 31st 1964 - one month after the exhibition, "Chicago and Vicinity 67th Annual." (This work was first sold/exhibited at the J.L. Hudson Gallery, and bears the Gallery label as well.) According to the Art Institute's records from the 1964 exhibition, including the Catalogue from the Institute's archives, "Metallic Water" was originally owned by Mr. and Mrs. Michael D. Maremont of Chicago, who nominated it for a prize in the Art Institute's Exhibition.

About J.L. Hudson Gallery:
J.L. Hudson Gallery was founded in 1963 by Joseph L. Hudson, the president of the Detroit based J.L. Hudson Company. Hudson is credited with bringing the highest caliber modernist art to the Detroit areas. The legendary Albert Landry, who had previously owned a gallery in New York, was hired as its first director.
Measurements:
Framed:
41.5 x 41.5 x 2 inches
Painting:
36 x 36 x 1 inches

More about Richard Anuszkiewicz:
"I'm interested in making something romantic out of a very, very mechanistic geometry. Geometry and color represent to me an idealized classical place that's very clear and very pure." -Richard Anuskiewicz

Richard Anuszkiewicz received his bachelor’s degree from Cleveland Institute of Art in Ohio in 1953. He studied at Yale University School of Art and Architecture in New Haven, Connecticut from 1953 to 1955, where he earned his Masters of Fine Arts. His works were included in the seminal 1965 exhibition The Responsive Eye at the Museum of Modern Art and along with Victor Vasarely and Bridget Riley; he was considered a pioneer of the Optical Art Movement. Life magazine called him “The New Wizard of Op.”

While Anuszkiewicz is known for his important developments as an Op Artist, his paintings also call fourth other associations; mainly the rigorous color theory of his mentor Josef Albers. Anuszkiewicz activates the space around his vividly chromatic squares with diagonals radiating lines to suggest volumes of depth. His paintings explore the optical properties of color; challenging the eye of each viewer while investigating formal, structural and color effects

His work is included in many important public and private collections including The Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, NY, Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL, Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, NY, The Corcoran Museum of Art, Washington, DC, Denver Museum of Art, Denver, CO, Detroit Institute of Art, Denver, CO, Solomon R Guggenheim Museum, New York, NY, Hirschhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, DC., Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY, Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, PA and the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY.