Richard Anuszkiewicz is both a scientific painter, and a poetic one. Though his pieces are founded in a rigid mathematical structure, he uses high intensity color to create a kind of geometric rhythm. Each piece has a lyrical energy to it, in addition to being rooted in method and psychological experience.
Anuszkiewicz was born in Erie, Pennsylvania in 1930. He received his B.FA. from the Cleveland Institute of Art and in 1953, he was awarded a Pulitzer Travelling Fellowship from the National Academy of Design. He then went on to get his M.F.A. from Yale University where he studied under Josef Albers, the wildly influential color theorist. Alber’s influence on Anuszkiewicz is obvious, in his fascination with color and geometry. Anuszkiewicz also received a Bachelor’s Degree of Science from Kent State University in Ohio.
For a time after that, Anuszkiewicz held a number of odd jobs, including working at Tiffany’s designing miniature silver animals, and at the Met, where he repaired scale models of Greek architecture and sculpture. His career then took off, and he went on to win numerous awards including the Charles of the Ritz Award, the Silvermine Guild award, the Cleveland Arts Prize, the Lee Krasner award, and a number of others. Anuszkiewicz’s work has been featured in over 300 group exhibitions, and he has had more than 100 solo shows in his career.