Julian STAÑCZAK (1928 Borownica - 2017 Seven Hills, Ohio, United States), See-Through Dark, 1983-84

acrylic, canvas; 131 x 131 cm;
Signed and dated on reverse: Julian Stanczak 83-4 (in pencil);
on the loom:
- signature, date and author's description: JULIAN STAÑCZAK "SEE-THROUGH, DARK" 1983-4 (in marker)
- auction and gallery stickers

Provenance:
- Sotheby's New York, 2014
- private collection, Poland
- Desa Unicum, 2014
- private collection, Poland

Literature
Smolińska M., Julian Stańczak. Op art and the dynamics of perception, Warsaw 2014, p. 206 (color ill.).

Stunning in its precision and perfect harmony of lines and geometric shapes, Julian Stanczak's work is an iconic representation of the artist's style. The artist's meticulously thought-out brush duct and compositional arrangement was fond of enriching with color, making it a carrier of an impossible-to-calculate sphere of emotions. Thanks to this, the painter's optical paintings do not overlook the intuitive aspect of the creative process. This painter, who lived permanently in the United States during his lifetime, is considered one of the precursors of op-art. His prominence is evidenced by his participation in "The Responsive Eye" exhibition, organized by the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York in 1965, alongside such artists as Victor Vasarely, Alexander Liberman, Bridget Riley, and from Poland: Wojciech Fangor and Henryk Berlewi. Just a year earlier, his work had been spotted by famed art dealer Martha Jackson and presented in an exhibition titled "Optical Paintings" at her own gallery. Interestingly, it was this exhibition in 1964 that inspired the term "op-art," which appeared in the pages of Time magazine.

The magnificent canvas on offer was held by the New York auction house Sotheby's, and is also reproduced in a monographic publication about the artist - certainly an extremely interesting proposition for collectors. The conspicuous perpendicular figure formed from a dense network of longitudinal lines, affects the viewer not only with its illusory depth, but also with the intensity of its colors, with a dominance of purple hues. The consistency with which Julian Stańczak followed his artistic path led him to technical mastery and great recognition among collectors and museumgoers. The artist's biography is captivating in this context, especially his health problems related to the paresis of his right hand, which resulted from wartime events, as well as the nightmare of his stay in Siberia, his escape to Africa and his subsequent fate as an emigrant in Great Britain and the USA. Despite his turbulent fate, the artist's unchanging admiration for nature and the power of life was reflected in carefully constructed geometric compositions with intense colors.