Bridget Riley

“No painter, dead or alive, has made us more aware of our eyes than Bridget Riley” Robert Melville, 1970

Born in London in 1931, Bridget Riley spent much of her childhood in Cornwall . She studied at Goldsmiths College between 1949 and 1952 and the Royal College of Art from 1952 to 1955. Her contemporaries included Peter Blake, Joe Tilson, Frank Auerbach, Robyn Denny and Richard Smith.

Following a period where she struggled to find her artistic voice, her first black and white pictures were produced in 1960-1961 and her first London solo exhibition was held in 1962. She exhibited in New York in 1965. The impact of “Op Art”, as it quickly became known, was dramatic. The media identified Riley as the leading “Op Artist” and Riley found, to her consternation, that designs based on her work appeared in shop windows, on fabrics and in magazines.

Between 1965 and 1967, she began to introduce coloured greys in her work and by 1970 was using a wider range of colour. Thereafter, her work has been characterised by an expansion of both palette and form.

Her work is concerned with visual experimentation, with drawing the viewer's attention to the act of looking. The experience of sight is the central, abiding preoccupation. Abstract shapes are deployed in subtle arrangements and colours are carefully orchestrated to create beautiful and resonant images.The pictures are self contained. They do not refer to the outside world but have their own internal rationale and cohesion. Her images are often large scale and cannot be fully appreciated as small illustrations in a book or magazine.

Bridget Riley has made screenprints throughout her career. Screenprints are ideally suited to work that requires clear-cut forms, fine, detailed work and heavy fields of pure colour or tone.

At the 34th Venice Biennale, in 1968, she was the first female artist and first British contemporary artist to win the International Prize. She has exhibited in galleries throughout the world, been awarded Honorary Doctorates at both Oxford and Cambridge Universities and was made Companion of Honour in 1999. She has curated a Mondrian Exhibition at the Tate Gallery (1996) and a Paul Klee exhibition at the Hayward (2002).

To find out more see:

Karsten Schubert (2001) Bridget Riley Complete Prints Ridinghouse, London

Paul Moorhouse (Ed) (2003) Bridget Riley, Tate Publishing, London