ITEM NO:A15 Appendix 2

Significance of the artist

Bridget Riley born 1931

Bridget Riley was born in Norwood, and spent much of her childhood in Padstow, Cornwall, where she first became interested in nature. She was educated at Cheltenham Ladies College (1946 – 48) and subsequently attended Goldsmiths College, London (1952-55), alongside Frank Anerbach, Peter Blake, Robyn Deny and Richard Smith. Initially, Riley painted semi-Impressionist figure subjects but after meeting Maurice de Sausmares in 1959 (who wrote the first monograph on her work) she became interested in .

Riley taught children for two years before establishing a basic design course at Loughborough School of Art in 1959. She later taught at Hornsey and Croyden Schools of Art and also worked for the J Walter Thompson Group advertising agency from 1960 drawing subjects for photography. These jobs were given up in 1963/4.

In 1960, after a period of uncertainty, Riley discovered her own pictoral identity through experimental works such as “Pink Landscape” and “Kiss”. From these she evolved her distinctive and famous style which explores the dynamic potential of optical phenomena. A period of intense work followed through the early 1960s with the development of her black and white stripe paintings. These swiftly established an international reputation for the artist, culminating in the inclusion of her work in the exhibition: “The Responsive Eye” at the Museum of , New York, 1965. Fame though was doubled-edged as popular fashion shops, world-wide, filled with ‘Op’ imitations of the work. Riley was dismayed and noted: “it will take at least twenty years before anyone looks at my paintings seriously again.”

However, in 1968, Riley won the International Prize for Painting at the 34th , the first British contemporary painter (and woman) to achieve the distinction. In the same year, together with the painter Peter Sedgley, Riley established SPACE, an organisation which provides artists in London with low-cost studios in large warehouse buildings. The project survives and is currently supported by Arts Council England.

In 1970 on the occasion of a large European Retrospective of her work which toured to Hannover, Bern, Dusseldorf, Turin and London (), the celebrated art critic Robert Melville wrote in the “New Statesman”: “No painter, dead or alive, has ever made us more aware of our eyes than Bridget Riley.”

During the early 1970s, Riley travelled extensively in Europe, visiting art museums and churches with the quest of finding answers to a vital recurrent question of her working practice – how to approach colour? She admired the work of Altdrfer, Rubens, and the Spanish masters. Later in the decade, she visited Japan, Australia, Indonesia and which all made their mark. The tomb paintings at Luxor revealed to her how the use of colour might be developed. Riley’s “Egyptian Palette”, for the first-time, gave the artist a basic range of strong colours which, because of their intensity, demanded a return to the simpler form of stripes. Her paintings changed direction again from 19886, when the vertical register of design was ? by the introduction of a dynamic diagonal. This new element dis? The balance of the pictorial space and resulted in larger and smaller units in lozenge form.

In 1997 Riley introduced circular or curvilinear forms into her developed Rhomboid structures, to more easily facilitate the looping, arc-like movements of the coloured shapes. During her long-career, Riley has continued to exhibit widely and to attract accolades. In 1995 she joined the staff of De Montford University, Leicester as visiting Professor and she has been awarded numerous Doctorates.

In 2003, Riley staged a major retrospective exhibition at Britain (26th June 28th September) which included 56 paintings from all periods since 1961 and a group of preparatory studies which gave an insight into her working methods. The exhibition received universal critical acclaim and drew 98,000 visitors – an indication of her pre-eminent reputation in the world of contemporary British art.

Awards:

1963 AICA Critics Prize Prize of the John Moores’ Exhibition, Liverpool

1964 Peter Stuyvesant Foundation Travel Bursary to USA

1969 The International Prize for Painting, XXXIV Venice Biennale

1972 Ohara Museum Prize, 8th International Print Beinnale, Tokyo

1974 Awarded CBE

1976 Honorary Doctor of Letters, University of Manchester

1979 Gold Medal at Grafikk-Biennale, Frerickstad, Norway

1981-88 Trustee of the London

1986 Honorary Doctor of Letters, University of Ulster

1994 Honorary Doctor of Letters, Oxford University

1995 Honorary Doctor of Letters, Cambridge University

1996 Honorary Doctor of Arts,

1997 Honorary Doctor of Letters, Univerity of Exeter

1999 Awarded Companion of Honour 2003 Praemium Imperiale, The International Proze for Outstanding Achievement in the Arts, Painting (Japan Art Society)

2 Selected Solo Exhibitions since 1994:

1994 Six Paintings 1963 – 1993, from the Collection, Tate Gallery, London

1995 Recent Paintings and Gouaches, Kettle’s Yard, Cambridge University Recent Works: Paintings and Gouaches 1981-1995, Spacex Gallery, Exeter Gouaches 1980-1995, Aberdeen Art Gallery, Aberdeen

1996 Recent Paintings and Gouaches, Waddington Galleries and , London Gouaches 1980-1995, British School in Rome Paintings and Gouaches 1980-1995, Leeds City Art Gallery Bridget Riley, Museum fur moderne Kunst des Landkreises Cuxhaven, Otterndorf

1997 Paintings, Gouaches and Prints 1981 –1986, Green on Red Gallery, Dublin

1998 Bridget Riley, Galerie Michael Sturm, Stuttgart Bridget Riley, Galerie Aurel Scheibler, Sologne Works 1961 – 1998, Abbot Hall Art Gallery, Kendal, Cumbria

1999 Paintings form the 1960s and 1970s, Serpentine Gallery, London Ausgewahlte Bilder / Selected Paintings 1961 – 1999, Kunstverein fur die Rheinlande und Westfalen, Dusseldorf

2000 New Paintings and Gouaches, Waddington Galleries, London (in collaboration with Karsten Schubert) Paintings 1982-2000 and Early Works on Paper, Pace Wildenstein, New York Reconnaissance, Dia Center for the Arts, New York Complete Prints 1962 – 2001, Hayward Gallery, London; toured to venues in the United Kingdom through 2003

2002 New Work, Museum Haus Esters and Kaiser Wilhelm Museum, Krefeld Recent Paintings and Gouaches, Galerie Michael Sturm, Stuttgart

2003 Bridget Riley, Galerie Beyeler, Basel Bridget Riley, retrospective exhibition, , London

Selected Group Exhibitions since 1993

1993 New Realities 1945 – 1968, Tate Gallery, Liverpool

1994 Group Show, Karsten Schubert Gallery, London British Abstract Art Part 1: Painting, Flowers East, London

1995 Drawing the Line, South Bank Centre, London; toured venues in the United Kingdom

3 From Here, Waddington Galleries and Karsten Schubert, London Patrick Heron, Bridget Riley: Colour and Nature, Castle Museum, Norwich Karo Dame, Kunstmuseum, Aarau Artist’s Choice: Elizabeth Murray – Modern Women, The , New York

1996 British Abstract Art Part III: Works on Paper, Flowers East, London

1997 Treasure Island, Centro de Arte Moderna Jose de Azeredo Perdiagiao, Lisbon A Quality of Light, Tate Gallery, St. Ives

1998 White Noise, Kunsthalle Bern

1999 45-49, Kettle’s Yard, Cambridge University; toured to venues in the United Kingdom Sublime: The Darkness and the Light – Works from the , John Hansard Gallery, Southampton; toured to venues in the United Kingdom

2000 Collection 2000, Tate Modern, London Blue, New Art Gallery, Walsall Beau Monde: Toward a Redeemed Cosmopolitan, 4th International Biennial, Site Santa Fe

2002 Good Vibrations: The Legacy of in Australia, Heide Art Museum, Victoria From blast to Freeze: British Art in the 20th Century, Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg

2003 Biennale d’Art Contemporian, La Suciere, Lyons

Recent Publications:

Bridget Riley, “ Colour for the Painter”, in Colour Art & Science, ed. Trevor Lamb and Jamie Bourriau: Cambridge University Press, 1995, pp.31-64

Bridget Riley: Dialogues on Art. With Neil MacGregor, Ernst H. Gombrich, Michael Craig-Martin, Andrew Graham-Dixon, and , ed. Robert Kudielka. Introduction by Richard Shone. London: Zwemmer, 1995. Reprinted, London: Thames and Hudson, 2003

Bridget Riley: Works 1961-1998. Exhibition Catalogue, Kendal, Cumbria: Abbot Hall Art Gallery, 1998. Artist’s conversation with Isabel Carlisle

The Eye’s Mind: Bridget Riley, Collected Writings 1965 – 1999, ed. Robert Kudielka. London: Thames and Hudson, in association with Serpentine Gallery, London, and De Monfort University, Leicester, 1999

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Bridget Riley: Paintings from the 1960s and 1970s, Exhibition catalogue, Texts by Lisa G. Corrin, Robert Kudielka, and Frances Spalding, London: Serpentine Gallery, 1999

Bridget Riley: Selected Paintings 1961 – 1999, Exhibition catalogue, Dusseldorf: Kunstverein fur die Rheinlande und Westfalen, 1999, Textx by Michael Krajewski, Robert Kuielka, and Raimund Stecker, Conversations with the artist (Ernst H. Gombrich, Michael Craig-Martin) reprinted from Dialogues on Art

Bridget Riley: Reconnaissance, Exhibition catalogue, Texts by and John Elderfield, New York: Dia Centre for the Arts, 2000

Bridget Riley: Paintings 1982-2000 and Early Works on Paper, Exhibition catalogue, Text by Dave Hickey, New York: Pace Wildenstein, 2000

Bridget Riley: Complete Prints 1962 – 2001, ed Karsten Schubert, Texts by Lynn MacRitchie and Craig Hartley, London: 2001

Bridget Riley, “Making Visible”, in : The Nature of Creation, Exhibition catalogue, London: Hayward Gallery 2002, pp.15-19

Bridget Riley: New Work, Exhibition catalogue, Texts by Martin Hentschel and Lynn MacRitchie, Krefeld: Krefelder Kunstmuseen 2002

Bridget Riley, Exhibition catalogue, London: Tate Britain 2003, Texts by Paul Moorhouse, Richard Shiff, and Robert Kudielka (This catalogue of the retrospective exhibition contains an extensive bibliography, including articles and reviews)

Frances Follin, Embodied Visions – Bridget Riley, Op Art and the Sixties, London: Thames and Hudson 2004

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