Edwin Mieczkowski Explained

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 in 1960 and taught at the Cleveland Institute of Art from 1959 to 1998.^[2]

Life and work

Mieczkowski was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on November 26, 1929. He 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. Mieczkowski was subsequently hired at the Cleveland Institute of Art as a faculty member. Together with Francis Hewitt and Ernst Benkert, he established the Anonima group in 1960.^{[3] [4]} Working in close proximity and in neighboring studios, 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. Fellow artists associated with the Cleveland art scene, including Julian Stanczak and Richard Anuszkiewicz, also participated in the 1965 show. Mieczkowski's optical paintings were aligned with the neo-constructivist tendencies as a reaction against Abstract expressionism in America during the 1960s and 1970s.^[7] According to the American art historian Edward B. Henning, Mieczkowski's approach to painting is reminiscent of Paul Cézanne's work, particularly in regard to the artist's "synthesis of painterly qualities and structural order".^[8]

In 2009, he was awarded the Alumni Achievement (Merit) Award from the Carnegie Mellon University.^[9] He died on June 23, 2017, at the age of 87 while in hospice care following multiple organ failures earlier that month. 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.^{[10] [11] [12]}

Notes and References

1. Web site: Steven Litt . June 26, 2017 . Major Cleveland artist Ed Mieczkowski dead at age 87 . October 27, 2023 . Cleveland.com . en.
2. Web site: Sider . Sandra . February 16, 2015 . Op Art in America . subscription . October 27, 2023 . Grove Art Online . en . 10.1093/gao/9781884446054.article.t2273231.
3. Book: Rotzler, Willy . Constructive Concepts: A History of Constructive Art from Cubism to the Present . 1989 . Rizzoli . 978-0-8478-1024-6 . New York . 246 . en.
4. Oren . Michel . 2000 . The Anonima Program for Perceptual Re-Education, 1960-70 . Cleveland Studies in the History of Art . 5 . 42–71 . 1092-3934.
5. News: Johnson . Ken . June 11, 2010 . Op Out of Ohio: ‘Anonima Group, Richard Anuszkiewicz and Julian Stanczak in the 1960s’ . en-US . The New York Times . October 27, 2023 . 0362-4331.
6. Egbert . Donald D. . 1970 . The Idea of Avant-Garde in Art and Politics . Leonardo . 3 . 1 . 75–86 . 1530-9282.
7. Book: Freedlander Gibans, Nina . Creative Essence. Cleveland's Sense of Place . Kent State University Press . 2005 . 0-87338-819-4 . Kent and London . 68 . en.
8. Book: Henning, Edward B. . Visual Logic. David E. Davis, Ed Mieczkowski, John Pearson, Julian Stanczak . Cleveland Institute of Art . 1979 . Cleveland, Ohio . 11 . en . 424099612.
9. Web site: University . Carnegie Mellon . Edwin Mieczkowski (A 1959) – Engage with CMU – Carnegie Mellon University . October 27, 2023 . www.cmu.edu . en.
10. Web site: Edwin Mieczkowski . October 30, 2018 . Blue Bloc . October 27, 2023 . Cleveland Museum of Art . en.
11. Web site: Akron Art Museum – Collections . October 27, 2023 . Akron Art Museum . en-US.
12. Web site: Ed Mieczkowski Biography . October 27, 2023 . LewAllen Galleries.