About

The American artist collaborative, Anonima Group, was founded in Cleveland, Ohio in 1960 by Ernst Benkert, Francis Hewitt, and Ed Mieczkowski. Propelled by their rejection of the cult of the individual ego and the automatic style of the Abstract Expressionists, the artists worked collaboratively on grid-based, spatially fluctuating drawings and paintings that were precise investigations of the scientific phenomena and psychology of optical perception. The work was accompanied by writings: proposals, projects, and manifestos - socialist in nature - which the artists considered essential to the experience and understanding of their work.

Their drawings, paintings, and writings, which had much in common with the positions of artist Ad Reinhardt, and with the Russian Constructivists, were included in the 1965 Responsive Eye exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art. Along with other artists in the exhibit, Anonima's work was disputedly relegated to what came to be the highly commercialized and publicized category of Op Art. A recent reconsideration and recontextualization of Op Art, including the expansive 2006 Optic Nerve exhibit at the Columbus Museum of Art, places the Anonima as the sole American collaborative group, along with the European Zero Group, Gruppo N, GRAV, and others, who were examining new optical information at that time. Frank Hewitt, who had a master's in art and later did coursework toward a Ph.D. in the psychology of perception, provided the conceptual framework for the Anonima Group; their projects addressed the latest information about the science and psychology of visual perception. Anonima's anti-commercial stance (see statement below), including their ultimate refusal to interact with the commercial art world, had the effect of removing them from the lexicon of known artists from that time.

In a catalog essay for Frank Hewitt's 1992 retrospective at the Robert Hull Fleming Museum in Burlington, Vt, William C. Lipke wrote that the artists believed that "commercialization and popularization obfuscated the real issues" being addressed by their work. Further, he writes that work by Anonima is "better understood in light of the theories and data of perceptual psychology; the commitment to a systemic study of visual information irrespective of stylistic or economic pressures." The Anonima group disbanded in 1971, but the effect of their work has extended into the present through their writing, drawings, and paintings. The group's analytical and impersonal view of the creative process was balanced by a profound generosity of spirit, which has influenced countless artists over the years; all three artists have had long teaching careers (Hewitt died in 1992, Benkert died in 2010, Mieczkowski in 2017 ), in which they dedicated themselves to providing art students with a precise understanding of the constructs of optical perception. Their ideas are reflected in the work of many contemporary artists.

Anonima means anonymity for its members in regard to the world. Anonymity is not necessarily a virtue in itself, an ideal state to be achieved. It is the basis of any group which values the results of collaboration more than the individual distinction of the collaborators. Anonima has as a purpose within the world, the frustration of any attempts to misdirect, misrepresent or misinterpret its activities. Anonima thus means no to Commercial Galleries, Biennales, Competitions, Prizes, Commissions, Mass Media Publicity, Critics, and Architects. At stake is the freedom to make the work, to exhibit the work, in whatever form and whenever it seems necessary, or simply to withhold it, following the rhythm of the artist and the development of his work, rather than the market of any of its more subtle extensions.