Julian Stanczak Left Behind More Than Just Great Art

Julian Stanczak’s art makes us feel something. Although the former Cleveland Institute of Art teacher and alum’s paintings are technical, patterned and geometric, they’re also full of color and emotion. Stanczak, who died March 25 at 88, will long be remembered for his works and his imprint on art and artists in Northeast Ohio, says Grafton Nunes, president and CEO of CIA. He shares three of Stanczak’s lasting legacies.  

Place maker: Stanczak burst onto the art scene in the 1960s with his vibrant paintings and could have made a name for himself in New York City. But he chose to come back to Cleveland and teach at CIA, which made the city significant to modern American art. “Julian was seen as the major figure in the optical art or perceptual art movement,” says Nunes. “And it would always be mentioned that he was living and teaching in Cleveland.”

Physical being: While Stanczak’s works don’t seem to be of the natural world — as is the case with many abstract and abstract expressionist painters — they are highly structured and precisely planned. Nunes says Stanczak’s works are also the most lush of some of his contemporaries. “What Julian adds is this extraordinary sensual quality,” Nunes says. “You enter into his paintings, and they have depth and they have contour.”

Lesson plan: Students were drawn to CIA because Stanczak taught there. While he was known to have a mischievous twinkle in his eye, one thing he harped on according to past students was that they be true to themselves. “His emphasis on them becoming whole human beings wasn’t just about them developing their craft,” Nunes says. “He wanted them to be people who had something to contribute from what they thought — but also what they felt.”