Op art

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Victor Vasarely : Sculpture in Pécs , Hungary

The Op Art or Optical Art is a style of visual art of the 1960s, the precision with abstract form patterns and geometrical color figures in the viewer surprising or disturbing optical effects, the concept of movement, flicker and optical illusions created.

history

Work by Ludwig Wilding with a reflective viewer

Op-Art comes from the experimental traditions of the Bauhaus and Russian Constructivism : Both schools established a strict dividing line between the phenomena of light and color , which is justified by their different reception. Light can be perceived in space as an immaterial state of motion - color has a material bond with a surface and needs light to be perceived. This fundamental distinction between spatial light and surface color results in two forms of optical art:

  • A kinetic op-art in three-dimensional space and
  • a static op-art on the two-dimensional plane.

The emphasis on the optical led Josef Albers to say that all painting is optical. He formulated his criticism in the sentence:

"The naming of any visual art as 'optical art' is just as pointless as talking about acoustic music or haptic sculpture."

After the Second World War , Victor Vasarely developed his art of color vibration from the chromatic experiments of the Bauhaus school. Such an op-art, derived from color contrasts, also uses the serial structures of a geometric abstraction for its effect and also refers to the ornament .

The Responsive Eye exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in New York in 1965, curated by William C. Seitz, made optical art known in the United States. The term Op-Art is said to have originated a year earlier. Even Donald Judd called as the creator of the name: He finished a critique of the exhibition Optical Paintings by Julian Stanczak in the Martha Jackson Gallery with the two-word phrase: Op art. The Polish artist Henryk Berlewi is also mentioned in the discussion about the naming .

Today, a subsequent generation of painters is already referring to the “historical” Op-Art of the sixties, reflecting motifs and content. a. since the beginning of the nineties the American Philip Taaffe .

Op art artist

Op art exhibitions

Op art fashion art

literature

  • William C. Seitz: The Responsive Eye , exhib.-cat. Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1965.
  • Cyril Barrett : Op Art . Viking Press, New York, 1970 ISBN 978-0-67052685-7 . (German: DuMont, Cologne, 1974 ISBN 978-3-77010789-6 .)
  • Cyril Barrett: An Introduction to Optical Art . Studio Vista / Dutton pictureback , London ISBN 978-0-28970137-9 .
  • Ronald G. Carraher and Jacqueline B. Thurston: Optical Illusions and the Visual Arts . Van Nostrand Reinhold Book Co., New York 1966
  • René Parola: Optical Art. Theory and Practice . Reinhold Book Co., New York 1969.
  • Karina Türr : Op Art. Style, ornament or experiment . Gebr. Mann, Berlin, 1986 ISBN 978-3-78611435-2 .

Web links

Commons : Op Art  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Karin Thomas: Until today. Style history of the fine arts in the 20th century. 5th edition, DuMont, Cologne 1979, p. 238.
  2. ^ Josef Albers: Op Art and / or Perceptual Effects . In: Yale Scientific Magazine , Vol. 40, No. 2, Nov. 1965, pp. 8-15.
  3. ↑ Karin Thomas: Until today. Style history of the fine arts in the 20th century. 5th edition, DuMont, Cologne 1979, p. 239.
  4. ↑ Jon Borg Zinner: . Op Art Pictures did Attack the Eye. In: Time. Vol. 84, No. 17, October 23, 1964.
  5. ^ Donald Judd: In the Galleries . In: Arts Magazine , October 1964, p. 64. Adapted from Joe Houston: Optic Nerve. Perceptual Art of the 1960s. Merrell, London, 2007, pp. 57, 75 (Time) and 66 (Judd)
  6. ↑ Grace Glueck: "A critic, graphic designer and pioneer abstractionist, Berlewi is not exactly new to 'optical' art." In: New York Times of April 4, 1965.