Edwin "Ed" Mieczkowski (November 26, 1929 – June 23, 2017) was an American visual artist and painter associated with the op-art movement in the U.S.[1] He was one of the co-founders of the Anonima group along with Francis Hewitt and Ernst Benkert in Cleveland and taught at the Cleveland Institute of Art from 1959 to 1998.[2]
Edwin "Ed" Mieczkowski | |
|---|---|
| Born | 26 November 1929 Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania |
| Died | 23 June 2017 |
| Nationality | American |
| Education | Cleveland Institute of Art, Carnegie Mellon University |
| Movement | Op-art |
Life and work
Mieczkowski was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on November 26, 1929 and later received a bachelor's degree from the Cleveland Institute of Art followed by an MFA in painting and printmaking from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh in 1959.[2] Mieczkowski was subsequently hired at the Cleveland Institute of Art as a faculty member. Together with Francis Hewitt and Ernst Benkert, he established the group Anonima in 1960.[3][4] Working closely, the artists "investigated problems in perception and design with quasi-scientific zeal".[5] While allowing for individual ideological differences, they group members rejected "the artist’s political protests as utterly irrelevant".[6]
In 1965, Mieczkowski's work was included in Responsive Eye, an exhibition at The Museum of Modern Art in New York which helped promote op-art as a distinct movement. In 2009, he was awarded the Alumni Achievement (Merit) Award from the Carnegie Mellon University.[7] Mieczkowski's optical paintings were aligned with the neo-constructivist tendencies as a reaction against Abstract expressionism in America during the 1960s and 1970s.[8] His work is included in the permanent collections of the Cleveland Museum of Art, the Akron Art Museum, and the New Jersey State Museum, among other institutions in the United States.[9][10][11]
References
- ^ Sider, Sandra (16 February 2015). "Op Art in America". Grove Art Online. doi:10.1093/gao/9781884446054.article.t2273231. Retrieved 2023-10-27.
- ^ a b Steven Litt (2017-06-26). "Major Cleveland artist Ed Mieczkowski dead at age 87". Cleveland.com. Retrieved 2023-10-27.
- ^ Rotzler, Willy (1989). Constructive Concepts: A History of Constructive Art from Cubism to the Present. New York: Rizzoli. p. 246. ISBN 978-0-8478-1024-6.
- ^ Oren, Michel (2000). "The Anonima Program for Perceptual Re-Education, 1960-70". Cleveland Studies in the History of Art. 5: 42–71. ISSN 1092-3934.
- ^ Johnson, Ken (2010-06-11). "Op Out of Ohio: 'Anonima Group, Richard Anuszkiewicz and Julian Stanczak in the 1960s'". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2023-10-27.
- ^ Egbert, Donald D. (1970). "The Idea of Avant-Garde in Art and Politics". Leonardo. 3 (1): 75–86. ISSN 1530-9282.
- ^ University, Carnegie Mellon. "Edwin Mieczkowski (A 1959) - Engage with CMU - Carnegie Mellon University". www.cmu.edu. Retrieved 2023-10-27.
- ^ Freedlander Gibans, Nina (2005). Creative Essence. Cleveland's Sense of Place. Kent and London: Kent State University Press. p. 68. ISBN 0-87338-819-4.
- ^ Edwin Mieczkowski (2018-10-30). "Blue Bloc". Cleveland Museum of Art. Retrieved 2023-10-27.
- ^ "Akron Art Museum - Collections". Akron Art Museum. Retrieved 2023-10-27.
- ^ "Ed Mieczkowski Biography". LewAllen Galleries. Retrieved 2023-10-27.