Bridget Riley: To the Point

Riley reduced her means of expression to black and white and to a restricted number of simple hard-edge geometric shapes — squares, stripes, ovals. Through the careful juxtaposition of forms, interplay of large and small, wide and narrow, she created an illusion of volume, of space and most significantly an illusion of movement — as if the lines before the viewer's eyes were dancing waves and the whole painting unstable. These works were later dubbed Op Art (optical art) — a new form of abstraction whose interest is not in emotional expression (as in the case of Abstract expressionism, which dominated the scene at the time), but rather a preoccupation with vision itself, how the brain interprets the signals that the eye receives.

This trend stood at the core of the exhibition "The Responsive Eye," which opened at the Museum of Modern Art in New York in 1965 and featured Riley's work prominently. The exhibition was a dizzying success, attracting massive media attention; it was also the moment of Riley's breakthrough onto the international art arena. Her works were quickly adopted and morphed into fashion, design and advertising and she became the best-known British artist in those years.

From 1967 onwards, Riley introduced color to her work, experimenting with the interplay of colors placed side by side and exploring the visual and emotional effect created by their encounter. Riley's work, however, was never driven by theoretical or scientific research, but stemmed from her own memories and experiences — the manifestations of shape, color and light in the world — like the sight of the waves on Cornwall Beach, where she spent most of her childhood.

In recent years, Riley’s oeuvre has attracted renewed interest and appreciation; we are pleased to present a selection of her work from the Museum's Prints and Drawings Collection, which offers a glimpse into her working process — from the small gouache preparatory drawing demonstrating a perfect transition (gradient) from cold to warm hues, through pioneering work painted directly on Plexiglas, to a masterly set of prints in 19 shades of gray. These superb examples stimulate the eye and awaken the mind.