Julian Stanczak: Early Masterworks

Julian Stanczak (POL/USA, 1928 - 2017) was a painter, printmaker, and educator who emigrated from Europe to Cleveland, Ohio in 1950.  He took his BFA at the Cleveland Institute of Art; and his MFA at Yale in 1956, where he studied with Josef Albers and Conrad Marca-Relli. Recognized as an early proponent of 'Op Art' painting, Stanczak exhibited with Martha Jackson Gallery in NYC from 1964 - 1979.

 

In February, 2025, Stanczak's geometric paintings are included in Kandinsky's Universe: Geometric Abstraction in the 20th Century, at Museum Barberini in Potsdam, Poland. This spring, he is included in Electric Op  at the Musée d'arts de Nantes, curated by Tina Rivers Ryan. Since 1948 to the present day, Julian Stanczak's paintings and prints have been consistently exhibited in museums, institutions, biennials, and galleries throughout the world. Notable historic group shows include The Responsive Eye, MOMA (1965); Site and Insight: An Assemblage of Artists (Curated by Agnes Gund), MOMA/ P.S. 1 (2003), Ghosts in the Machine, New Museum, (2012), and Geometric Obsession: The American School 1965-2015, Museo de Arte Contemporaneo Buenos Aires (MACBA), Argentina (2016).

Major solo exhibitions include Julian Stanczak: 50 Year Retrospective, Cleveland Institute of Art, Ohio, (2001) and Line Color Illusion: 40 Years of Collecting, Julian Stanczak, Akron Art Museum, Ohio, (2013).

 

His work is included in the permanent collection of more than 80 institutions, including The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo; the Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh; the Hirshhorn Museum, Washington, DC; Museum of Modern Art, New York; National Gallery, Washington, DC; and San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.