Op & Pop Artists - From Allegorical Renaissance to Modern Day Optical and Kinetic Art

"Summer" (1572), Giuseppe Arcimboldo

In this post, I will highlight artists who in the 1960s and 1970s engaged in optical ('Op') and popular ('Pop') art in a time of experimentation and more abstract forms of expression. Four hundred years earlier, Italian artist, Giuseppe Arcimboldo created self-portraits using fruits and vegetables, identifying with the four seasons. Called the 'Grandfather of Surrealism', his art was later emulated by the likes of Picasso and Dali. Renaissance artists also created dreamlike paintings & optical illusions. Holbein and da Vinci used anamorphic images that were distorted unless viewed from a certain vantage point.

I am drawn to portraits, especially self-portraits. Art of the 16th century was often allegorical, with paintings of a subject disguised as something else.  I enjoy such departures from reality, along with more modern forms of abstract expressionism.

Whatever the subject or artistic style, I appreciate seeing the interaction between artistic elements and how the artist achieves the concepts (e.g. texture and space).

Optical and kinetic art is precise and often uses geometry and complementary colors of varying intensity to create interest and lighting effects. I enjoy Pop Art in that it combines several elements and principles of art, placing familiar subjects with the unfamiliar or in dream-like or surreal settings.

"Paris" from left (1980), Agam

"Paris" from right (1980), Agam

Kinetic art depends on motion for effect. One of my neighbors collects yard art sculptures some of which spin and cause optical effects. While in Palm Springs, I was introduced to the art of Israeli sculptor and optical and kinetic artist, Yaacov Agam.

He is famous for creating Agamographs, kinetic art with a series of images that change when viewed from different angles. Agamographs, like holograms, may not look like much when standing directly in front of them. You need to move or walk by them to reveal each of the designs. Point of view is important when observing art. I tell my students to stand back at first, then move closer to see how the artist achieved the effect. 

Although the term for such images was named after Yaacov Agam in the 1950s, this technique was in fact done much earlier in 1692 by Gaspar Antoine de Bois-Clair for the double portrait of Frederik IV and his sister Sophie Hedevig which hangs today in Rosenborg Palace in Copenhagen, Denmark. Apparently, one or two more of these double portraits are attributed to Bois-Clair. I was lucky enough to see works by both artists.

"Made in Heaven", Gua

"Two Birds", Shuplyak

Today, Ukrainian artist Oleg Shuplyak and American artist Troy Gua execute double image portraits without using ribbed canvases. Salvador Dali is also famous for using double imagery in his Surrealist compositions.

"Double Portrait of the Artist in Time"
(1935), Lundeberg

Helen Lundeberg’s double portrait is more obvious and rich in symbolism.

"Luminous" (1965)

"Injured by Green" (1963)

Richard Anuszkiewicz is an American Op Artist who used complementary colors, intensity, and the effect of light on color. He used geometry, primarily square forms, and lots of precision to create his optical illusions.

"Water from the Rock" (1962)

Wikilinks credit Holland Cotter for describing Anuszkiewicz's paintings by stating, "The drama -- and that feels like the right word -- is in the subtle chemistry of complementary colors, which makes the geometry glow as if light were leaking out from behind it."

"Pink Landscape" (1960)

"High Sky" (1991)

Bridget Riley is an English Op Artist who began painting with impressionist landscapes and also studied Pointillism prior to exploring optical art. She is the first woman to be awarded the Dutch Sikkens (Colour) Prize. Divisionism played a role in the development of her later optical style.

"Turned His Head" (2017) Larry Poons

American abstract painter, Larry Poons is famous for co-creating the sleeve design for the Beatles' album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band and two of the Who's albums. His Op Art of the 1960s included dots and ellipses. His later work is somewhat reminiscent of Jackson Pollock but more colorful and often with much larger and more pronounced drips.

English Pop Artist, Peter Blake is famous for creating The Who's “Face Dances” album cover of 1981. These portraits of band members -- Pete Townshend, Roger Daltrey, John Entwistle, and Keith Moon -- were painted by Blake and fifteen other artists.

My favorite is Hungarian-French Op Artist, Victor Vasarely. His geometric designs and colorful graphics create wonderful illusions of space and depth. My 5th-graders created their own Op Art using carefully woven strips of contrasting colored paper and wavy lines.

"Crying Girl" (1963) Lichtenstein

"Stepping Out" (1978)

You've likely heard of American Pop Artists, Roy Lichtenstein, and Andy Warhol. They are two of the most famous and most often shown in this genre. We often see yellow-haired women in Lichtenstein's comic-book style halftone images (note the 'Ben-Day dots').

“Stepping Out” (1978) was created after Pablo Picasso’s
“Woman With Yellow Hair” (1931) and “The Dream” (1932) and Fernand Léger's "Figure" (1947).

"Le Rêve (The Dream)" (1932), Picasso

Note the shape of the hair in Picasso's women (both Marie Thérése) and the red and yellow shapes passing through the eyes in Léger's figure. The facial features of the man in Lichtenstein's piece also mimic those of Léger's figure.

"Woman With Yellow Hair (1931), Picasso

"Figure" (1947), Léger

Our final Pop artist is America's Andy Warhol, famous for his Campbell Soup cans (and other ads) and iconic images of Marilyn Monroe. Photos were taken at his 2018 exhibit at Palm Springs Art Museum.