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The
Cleveland Arts Prize committee's recognition of Julian Stanczak
came at the peak of his fame as a major figure in the Op Art movement.
A master of the dynamic interplay of color and light, Stanczak had
emerged in the late 1950s and early '60s as a painter of extraordinary
power and striking originality. He was the first to use undulating
lines in his paintings, producing unsettling, quivering forms that
seemed to shiver and throb with light.
And
the art world was fascinated. In 1965 Stanczak's work was
included in more than a dozen solo and group shows around
the U.S. One of his paintings was even reproduced in an
advertisement for sunglasses in the New York Times:
an indication of the degree to which he had seized the imagination
of New York art circles. But the show that brought him to
national attention was a huge exhibition mounted at the
Museum of Modern Art that year called "The Responsive Eye"—a
gathering of the work of 106 artists that announced the
arrival of a new aesthetic.
"Op"—or
optical—art played with the act of perception itself,
more specifically with the interaction of color and geometric
form. (Stanczak himself never liked the term, preferring
to describe what he did, more straightforwardly, as "perceptual
art.") Characterized by what art historian Elizabeth McClelland
called its "careful plotting and surgical precision," It
offered a bracing alternative to the wild, apparent formlessness
of abstract expressionism.
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Modulations
in Red
1965
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During
his years at Yale (1954–56), to which he repaired after graduation
from the Cleveland Institute of Art, Stanczak had been strongly
influenced by Josef Albers, the great prophet of color theory and
advocate of Bauhaus precision. But Stanczak insisted his own art
was very much rooted in the natural world. As a young faculty member
at the University of Cincinnati, between 1957 and 1964, he had looked
out every day from the window of his house on a hill overlooking
the Ohio River, mesmerized by the constant movement of the river
and the changing effects of light.
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Conducing
Line
1979
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Having
survived a harrowing childhood (a brutal Siberian labor camp
that cost the use of his right arm, escape to Teheran, living
in a straw hut in Uganda) Stanczak seemed to find solace and
reassurance in his repeating, subtly manipulated forms—as
he did in the music of Corelli, Boccherini and Vivaldi. It was
the sights of Africa that set him drawing feverishly—with
his left hand—and led to art studies in London, with its
vibrant gallery scene. Settling in Cleveland with relatives,
young Julian enrolled at the Cleveland Institute of Art. He
would join its faculty in the mid-1960s and teach there until
his retirement in 1995.
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Duality
in System
1990
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In
the 1970s, following his Cleveland Arts Prize Special Citation,
Stanczak continued to grow in stature and reputation.
His paintings, prints, and drawings were shown at Washington,
D.C.'s Corcoran Gallery and at the Martha Jackson Gallery
in New York, as well as in France, England, and Germany. He
continued to explore new ideas and optical effects throughout
the 1980s and '90s, producing some of his most compelling
canvases. In 1998, a retrospective exhibition covering fifty
years of Stanczak's work was jointly produced by the Butler
Institute of American Art, the Columbus Museum of Art, and
the Josef Albers Museum in Germany.
text
by
Dennis Dooley
1986 Winner of the Cleveland Arts Prize for Literature
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