Axo-Ix
Artist
Victor Vasarely
(French, born Hungary, 1908 - 1997)
Contact
Michèle Vasarely
CultureFrench
Date1975
MediumOil on canvas
DimensionsOverall: 43 3/4 x 42 in. (111.1 x 106.7 cm)
Overall, Frame: 42 7/8 x 42 7/8 in. (108.9 x 108.9 cm)
Overall, Frame: 42 7/8 x 42 7/8 in. (108.9 x 108.9 cm)
Credit LineGift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr., Hugh Gordon Miller and Jerry Farnsworth in memory of Alfred Khouri
Object number77.1242
Not on view
Label TextVictor Vasarely
French (b. Hungary, 1906-1997)
Axo-Ix, 1975
Oil on canvas
Gift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr., Hugh Gordon Miller, and Jerry Farnsworth 77.1242
In Axo-Ix, Victor Vasarely makes skillful use of a geometric grid of interlocking squares and parallelograms to suggest depth where there is none. Such clever "fool the eye" illusionism is a staple of Op art, which employs optical effects to subvert the reality of the picture plane. In so doing, it confronts the viewer with a larger perceptual challenge: to contemplate the disconnect between what we see and what we think we see.
By the 1930s Vasarely was already creating geometrically abstract prints and posters that anticipated the Op aesthetic. By the mid-1960s, following an article in Time magazine, he was widely recognized as Op's principal leader.
Exhibition History"New Accessions" The Chrysler Museum, January 1978
"International Moderns from the Permanent Collection," The Chrysler Museum, April 24 - June 29, 1980.
Published ReferencesThomas W. Styron, "Major Contemporary Works Acquired," _Chrysler Museum Bulletin_ 6, no. 13 (January 1978): inside cover.
