Autumn Suite (Green with Red)

More Information

Richard Anuszkiewicz was concerned with the optical changes that occur when different high-intensity colors are applied to the same geometric configurations. Put another way, by keeping his compositional arrangement consistent across a group of related works, he could isolate and test the effects of different color combinations in an experimental and iterative fashion. Many of the artist’s compositions draw inspiration from the similarly investigative work of his mentor Josef Albers. In his long-running series “Homage to the Square,” Albers experimented with juxtapositions of color in nesting square forms, and Anuszkiewicz likewise worked with squares in works like Autumn Suite (Green with Red). Fittingly, the “Autumn Suite” series of prints also includes Autumn Suite (Blue with Black), whose colors produce both a different sense of space and different suggestions of mood or emotion. More broadly, Anuszkiewicz applied the same composition with a central square surrounded by a dense array of radiating lines to a great many works in different sizes and different media. For example, his 1978 acrylic on canvas painting Blue Vapor features the same composition and was recently included in the Akron Art Museum’s exhibition Afterimages: Geometric Abstraction and Perception. In works of this type, the outer lines are applied in two alternating colors: one that matches the central square, and another that provides a contrast to it. The lines in the contrasting color remain of a consistent width as they progress from the boundary of the square to the edge of the image, while the lines in the matching color widen as they radiate outward, forming wedges. As a result, the proportional balance between the two colors shifts smoothly across the picture. Unless this is observed from a very close vantage point, the high density of the lines and wedges creates what vision scientists term “optical mixing” in the perception of viewers—the two contrasting colors are arranged minutely enough that they blur together, yielding a combined impression, which also shifts with the changing ratio of its constituent colors. In Autumn Suite (Green with Red), this results in a vivid red glow surrounding the central green square.