Edna Andrade: Imagination Is Never Static
Harvard University Art Museums
By: Charles Giuliano - Aug 03, 2025
In 1965, William Seitz curated The Responsive Eye for the Museum of Modern Art. It focused on abstract art which evoked after images which spawned the term Op Art. The emergence of this movement coincided that of Pop Art which came to dominate the New York Art World.
The principal artists of the Op art movement as it emerged in the late 1950s and ’60s were Victor Vasarely, Bridget Riley, Richard Anuszkiewicz, Larry Poons, and Jeffrey Steele. Op art painters devised complex and paradoxical optical spaces through the illusory manipulation of such simple repetitive forms as parallel lines, checkerboard patterns, and concentric circles or by creating chromatic tension from the juxtaposition of complementary (chromatically opposite) colors of equal intensity. These spaces create the illusion of movement, preventing the viewer’s eye from resting long enough on any one part of the surface to be able to interpret it literally. “Op art works exist,” according to one writer, “less as objects than as generators of perceptual responses.”
The East Hampton Gallery of Bruno Palmer Poroner represented the Canadian Op artists- Guido Molinari, Jacques Hertubese, Marcel Barbeau and Claude Toussignant as well a Ben Cunningham. For a time I worked as his assistant planning and mounting exhibitions.
On several occasions I met the artist Edna Andrade when she traveled from Philadelphia to bring new work to the gallery. It was always fresh, intensely crafted and vibrant. The Harvard University Art Museums are giving her long overdue recognition.
Edna Andrade: Imagination Is Never Static offers a new look at the practice of acclaimed artist and educator Edna Andrade (1917–2008). Presenting a selection of drawings recently gifted to the Harvard Art Museums by the artist’s estate, this exhibition emphasizes the central role of drawing as well as interdisciplinary exploration in her art and in modernist movements of the 20th century.
Andrade is best known for her geometric compositions, which were inspired by her interest in studying structures in nature, architecture, astronomy, mathematics, and art history. She carried this same set of wide-ranging inspirations and inquiry to her teaching. Her classroom bridged her own traditional artistic training of drawing from observation and the principles of the Bauhaus school that transformed U.S. arts curricula after faculty émigrés took up leadership positions in art and architecture programs, such as Harvard’s Graduate School of Design. Andrade taught courses on color and design at the Philadelphia Museum School of Art and was part of an intellectual salon called Form Forum, which brought mathematicians, artists, architects, and philosophers together in an exchange of ideas. Presented on a university campus, the exhibition explores the way that Andrade used drawing as a process of experimentation, channeling her own multifaceted approach to art and design.
Curated by Mitra Abbaspour, Houghton Curator and Head of the Division of Modern and Contemporary Art, and Madeline Murphy Turner, Emily Rauh Pulitzer Curatorial Fellow in Contemporary Drawings; with Bridget Hinz, Senior Curatorial Assistant for Special Exhibitions and Publications.
Edna Andrade: Imagination Is Never Static is made possible through the generosity of the Edna Wright Andrade Charitable Trust, whose extraordinary gift of drawings from across the artist’s career to the Harvard Art Museums demonstrates the Trust’s deep commitment to fostering the study of art for future generations. Support for the exhibition is provided by the Rosenblatt Fund for Post-War American Art, the Agnes Gund Fund for Modern and Contemporary Art, and the Edna W. Andrade Fund and the Edna Wright Andrade Fund of the Philadelphia Foundation. Related programming is supported by the M. Victor Leventritt Lecture Series Endowment Fund. Modern and contemporary art programs at the Harvard Art Museums are made possible in part by generous support from the Emily Rauh Pulitzer and Joseph Pulitzer, Jr., Fund for Modern and Contemporary Art.
Related Events
Exhibition Tour: Edna Andrade: Imagination Is Never Static
Join us for a tour of our exhibition Edna Andrade: Imagination Is Never Static, led by Mitra Abbaspour, co-curator of the exhibition.
- Hours: 12:00pm - 1:00pm
- Date: September 6, 2025
Exhibition Tour: Edna Andrade: Imagination Is Never Static
Join us for a tour of our exhibition Edna Andrade: Imagination Is Never Static, led by Madeline Murphy Turner, co-curator of the exhibition.
- Hours: 10:30am - 11:30am
- Date: September 19, 2025
Exhibition Tour: Edna Andrade: Imagination Is Never Static
Join us for a tour of our exhibition Edna Andrade: Imagination Is Never Static, led by Mitra Abbaspour, co-curator of the exhibition.
- Hours: 12:00pm - 1:00pm
- Date: October 8, 2025
Exhibition Tour: Edna Andrade: Imagination Is Never Static
Join us for a tour of our exhibition Edna Andrade: Imagination Is Never Static, led by Madeline Murphy Turner, co-curator of the exhibition.
- Hours: 10:30am - 11:30am
- Date: October 31, 2025
Exhibition Tour: Edna Andrade: Imagination Is Never Static
Join us for a tour of our exhibition Edna Andrade: Imagination Is Never Static, led by Mitra Abbaspour, co-curator of the exhibition.
- Hours: 12:00pm - 1:00pm
- Date: January 4, 2026