Julian Stanczak was a Polish-born American painter and printmaker who is considered a central figure of the Op art movement in the US during the 1960s and 1970s.
22 Facts About Julian Stanczak
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Julian Stanczak retrained himself to paint left-handed and emigrated to the United States in 1950, where he eventually became a citizen.
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Julian Stanczak lived and worked in Seven Hills, Ohio with his wife, the sculptor Barbara Julian Stanczak, until his death in 2017.
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Julian Stanczak's work is included in permanent collections of museums in North America and Europe.
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Julian Stanczak was born in Borownica, Poland in 1928.
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Aged sixteen, Julian Stanczak decided to join the Polish Armed Forces in the West to receive food rations and medical help, becoming separated from his parents, sister, and brother.
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Julian Stanczak then traveled to a refugee camp in Tehran where he joined his mother and siblings; his father had by that time gone missing.
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Julian Stanczak received his first art lessons during that period from another Polish refugee named Henryk Frudist.
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Julian Stanczak received his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the Cleveland Institute of Art, Cleveland Ohio in 1954, and then trained under Josef Albers and Conrad Marca-Relli at the Yale University, where he was roommates with Richard Anuszkiewicz who would later become one of the key artists associated with Op Art.
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Julian Stanczak was a student of Albers for two years and was awarded a Master of Fine Arts from Yale University in 1956.
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In particular, Julian Stanczak was inspired by the 1954 book by Rudolf Arnheim, a German Gestalt theorist with strong connections to the Bauhaus, titled Perception: A Psychology of the Creative Eye, which the artist translated into Polish.
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Julian Stanczak became a United States citizen in 1957 and taught at the Art Academy of Cincinnati for 7 years.
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Julian Stanczak preferred to call his style "perceptual art" rather than "optical".
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In 1973, Julian Stanczak designed a mural for a 12-story residential building in Cleveland called Carter Manor, which would subsequently become badly damaged due to the contractor's decision to use enamel paint.
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Julian Stanczak continued to exhibit frequently until the end of his life, primarily in the Midwest.
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Julian Stanczak was named "Outstanding American Educator" by the Educators of America in 1970.
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Julian Stanczak collaborated with other Polish-American artists, including Hanna Zawa-Cywinska.
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In 2007, Julian Stanczak was interviewed by Brian Sherwin for Myartspace Blog.
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In 2008, Julian Stanczak designed a 364-foot mural made of painted metal rods for the exterior of a corporate building in downtown Cincinnati.
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In 2013, Julian Stanczak was awarded an honorary doctorate from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio.
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Julian Stanczak died at home on March 25,2017 at the age of 88 following a short illness.
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Julian Stanczak's works are held in permanent collections of museums in North America, Central and South America, and Europe.