Bridget Riley

Since the late 1970s, British painter Bridget Riley (born 1931) has often moved beyond the canvas to wall paintings, engendering a direct communication between work, viewer and space. This volume gathers 13 of these wall works spanning 40 years.

Bridget Riley’s (born 1931) profound observations of movement, light and color constitute a complex oeuvre based on the process of perception. This volume presents new paintings and wall works in dialogue with some of Riley’s most significant works made since 1984.

This volume, now fully revised and updated for the third time, reveals the mind behind a remarkable artistic achievement, drawing together the most important texts and interviews of the last 50 years.

Riley (born 1931), one of the leading abstract painters of her generation, holds a unique position in contemporary art. She has developed and extended the range of her interests ever since her first success in the 1960s, creating a body of work which is both consistent and highly varied.

The Eye's Mind includes her essays on Cézanne, Seurat, Mondrian and Nauman, and interviews with David Sylvester, Robert Kudielka and Mel Gooding, among others. Riley's writings show a passionate engagement with her subjects and a great insight paired with a freshness of approach and an exceptional clarity of expression. Quite apart from providing a key to understanding her own work, this book is a fascinating document reflecting the issues and problems facing an artist in the 21st century.

On the occasion of a major exhibition of Bridget Riley's (born 1931) work at the Hayward Gallery, London, in 1992, BBC Radio broadcast an illuminating series of five dialogues, each one between Riley and a well-known personality from the art world. These talks are collected in this volume, expertly edited by the art historian Robert Kudielka.

With Neil MacGregor, art historian and former director of the British Museum, Bridget Riley discusses the art of the past in relation to the present; with the celebrated art historian and theorist Ernst Gombrich she explores the perception of color in painting; with the artist Michael Craig-Martin, she addresses the theory and practice of abstraction; and with the critics Bryan Robertson and Andrew Graham-Dixon she talks about the events and travels that have shaped her life as an artist.

The publication of this newly revised edition coincides with Bridget Riley's 2019–20 retrospective exhibition at the National Galleries of Scotland and the Hayward Gallery, London.

For her 2017 exhibition at Galerie Max Hetzler in Paris, Bridget Riley (born 1931) installed eight canvases and two wall works—all part of her Disc Paintings series (2016–2017), in which colored discs are arranged in a diagonal grid, their palette—off-green, off-violet and off-orange—inspired by Seurat.

The present volume includes the vast majority of significant essays on Bridget Riley written since 1999. This was a particularly fruitful period in the reception of her work, as the discourse broadened and her reputation as one of the most important painters of her generation solidified.

The essays range from biographical and career overviews to detailed analysis of specific aspects or themes that occur throughout Riley’s career. The selection reflects a rich body of work, which sustains the interest of important authors, as evidenced by multiple pieces by Éric de Chassey, Lynne Cooke, Robert Kudielka, Paul Moorhouse and Richard Shiff. Together, this volume of essays tells the story of an artist whose art has continuously evolved over nearly six decades.

Most of the critical texts have been written in close consultation with the artist, the result of long conversations, sudio visits and archive access. Largely commissioned on the occasion of particular exhibitions, these essays track and trace Riley’s focus and influences at different moments in time. Each essay builds upon the next, with more recent authors clearly responding and referencing earlier discourse. The result is a collection of great breadth and cohesion.

An important resource, About Bridget Riley represents a monumental body of research and analysis by some of the most important art historians of today. It also offers the opportunity for the reader and the viewer to approach Riley from a plethora of perspectives to form their own view, much reflecting Riley’s own particular approach to art history. As John Elderfield puts it: ‘Effectively, Riley makes a pact with the viewer, through the medium of the painting, that they will collaborate in eliciting from a particular painting a particular sort of mobile visual array. And, when the viewer stops looking at the painting, it will therefore be as if leaving something that continues to go on.’

Spanning over 50 years of Bridget Riley’s career, this volume explores the dialogue between black-and-white and colour in the artist’s work.

Riley gained critical attention internationally for her black-and-white paintings during the mid-1960s, using elementary shapes to engage the eye by creating flux and rhythm within the pictorial field. Throughout the succeeding decades, Riley has continued her investigation into perception through related bodies of work in rich colour.

This volume accompanies a focused display at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh (15 April 2016 – 16 April 2017), which tracks Riley’s work up to the recent re-introduction of a palette of black and white. It includes essays by Éric de Chassey and Frances Spalding as well as a historic interview with the artist by Robert Kudielka, which together contextualise Riley’s early developments and demonstrate how her latest paintings progress directly out of a rigorous engagement with colour.

Examining a breakthrough moment in Bridget Riley’s career, this volume illustrates the importance of colour to the artist’s investigation of visual contrast and perception.

During the early 1960s, Riley’s black-and-white work employed elementary shapes to convey movement and light. Having tested this limited set of means, the artist incorporated colour into her paintings in 1967.

This volume accompanies an exhibition at Graves Gallery, Sheffield (18 February–25 June 2016) that chronicles the period of change which took place before, during and after Riley’s representation of Great Britain at the 34th Venice Biennale. Using Rise 1 (1968) as a starting point, the carefully selected group of paintings and works on paper from 1967–85 situate this important painting within its context.

Alongside over 30 full-colour illustrations, an essay by Paul Moorhouse explores how the adoption of colour informs developments throughout Riley’s ensuing career.

Marking the first major survey of Bridget Riley’s use of the curve, this volume explores how the artist has often returned to this pictorial device over a 50-year time span.

Coinciding with the artist’s exhibition at De La Warr Pavilion, Bexhill on Sea (13 June–6 September 2015), the publication features studies and paintings from throughout Riley’s career; beginning with black-and-white works from the 1960s up to the recent wall painting Rajasthan (2012), which combines curvilinear shapes with a vibrant colour palette.

Animating the entire visual field, Riley’s distinctive abstract language is shaped by her study of Paul Cézanne and Georges Seurat’s treatment of pictorial space. Accompanied by colour illustrations of over 30 works in the exhibition, a new interview with the artist by Paul Moorhouse offers an in-depth exploration of Riley’s influences and developments.

Tracking a transitional period of Bridget Riley’s career, the works on paper in this volume move from the vertical stripe to increasingly complex diagonal compositions.

During the mid-1980s, Riley introduced a new pictorial device – the rhomboid – to the then predominantly vertical stripes, developing her exploration of interplaying tones of green, yellow and orange.

Riley constructs new visual relationships between divergent colours and forms within these works, creating what the artist terms a ‘harmony of contrasts’ that animates the entire visual field.

Illustrated in full colour, the works are accompanied by a historic interview with the artist by Robert Kudielka and a text by Natalia Naish and Alexandra Tommasini, which situate these studies with major paintings during this period.

Eight never-before-seen gouache studies are at the centre of this volume, illustrating Bridget Riley’s dynamic approach to colour.

This volume documents a group of gouache studies by Bridget Riley from 1969 to 1972 that reflects a major reconfiguration of Riley’s style. The shapes formed in these gouaches are arranged from a limited selection of colours – namely violet, green and pink – to explore the visual relationship between 'contrast and harmony’.

Accompanying full colour illustrations, a conversation between the artist and Robert Kudielka from 1972 posits the works within the context of Bridget Riley’s oeuvre.

Filled with Bridget Riley’s mesmerising stripe paintings, this catalogue conveys the artist’s unique development in using stripes to animate the entire visual field.

Published in conjunction with the Bridget Riley: The Stripe Paintings 1961–2012 exhibition at Galerie Max Hetzler, Berlin, key paintings and studies of Riley's stripe works are collected for the first time. This well-illustrated title demonstrates how Riley reguarly returned to this seemingly simple pictorial device to achieve complex, surprising results.

The volume includes full-colour illustrations alongside important texts by John Elderfield and Paul Moorhouse – in both English and German – which situate these exhiliarating works within the artist's ouevre and a broader art historical context.

Filled with iconic black and white paintings, studies and prints that mesmerise and challenge the viewer, Bridget Riley: Works 1960–1966 represents the foundation of the artist’s exploration of shape, movement and perception.Accompanying a two-part exhibition of the same name at Karsten Schubert, London, and Hazlitt Holland-Hibbert, London, this volume features over 40 works from the beginning of Riley's impressive career.Full-colour illustrations are presented alongside a selection of essays, including an interview with David Sylvester from 1967 that discusses the distinctive, optically vibrant works that Riley was making during this important period, and a conversation with Maurice de Sausmarez.

Placing new paintings by Bridget Riley in relation to her early gouaches, this publication highlights the important new directions taken by the famous British artist.

Accompanying an exhibition of the same name at Karsten Schubert, London, this catalogue features three new paintings which bring Riley's exploration of the circle from the wall to the canvas, and from black and white to colour.

Through the layering of circles of yellow and orange in her exploration of interplaying colours, Riley asks the eye to continuously adjust as the shapes grow and compress, and dance across the canvas.

Full-colour illustrations are accompanied by a conversation between Bridget Riley and Robert Kudielka from 1978, in which the artist discusses her move away from the blacks, greys and whites of her 1960s works and towards the use of the curve ‘as a rhythmic vehicle for colour’.

Accompanying an exhibition curated by Bridget Riley, over three decades of the artist’s dynamic paintings and studies are brought together in this volume.

Published on the occassion of a unique retrospective exhibition at Galerie Max Hetzler, Berlin (2011), this large catalogue presents works selected by the artist herself.

Focusing on the last three decades of the artist's prolific career, Riley's paintings are situated in relation to to drawings and prepratory studies. Alongside over 30 full-colour illustrations, an essay by Riley and a conversation with Lynne Cooke provide an in-depth understanding of the artist's approach to colour, form and painting itself.

Bringing together essays by and interviews with British artist Bridget Riley, this volume represents her passionate and articulate engagement with colour, perception and art history.

Divided into three sections, the writings reveal Riley’s relationship to different topics over time, including the term ‘abstract’; the influence of Georges Seurat and Paul Cézanne; the role of colour and painting throughout art history; the importance of perception and much more.

The book includes interviews with preeminent art historians such as David Sylvester, Mel Gooding and Lynne Cooke, as well as in-depth studies of other artists: Piet Mondrian, Bruce Nauman and Georges Seurat.

Bringing together over 20 gouache studies by Bridget Riley, this volume reveal elements of the celeberated artist's process.

Accompanying an exhibition of Riley's work at Karsten Schubert, London, the studies explore the results of setting circles of colours – such as turquoise, cerise and ochre – at different distances.

The works are accompanied by an interview with the artist by Robert Kudielka from 1972, just following the creation of these works. In the discussion, Riley touches upon the role of her studies and the effects of her colour choices on light and movement in the picture plane.

Published in conjunction with a major retrospective at Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, this comprehensive volume illuminates the history and motivations behind Bridget Riley’s energetic art.

Illustrations of over 60 Riley paintings are complemented by more than 80 drawings, which offers a unique opportuntity to compare early works inspired by Georges Seurat alongside both her well-known black and white paintings during the 1960s and her recent canvases of curved forms and vivid colours.

This bilingual catalogue contains six essays by Éric de Chassey, Jonathan Crary, Frances Follin, Robert Kudielka, Anne Montfort and Semir Zeki; an interview with the artist by Lynne Cooke; a text about the two mural works by Nadia Chalbi; and an extensive biography. Providing an overview of Riley's growing oeuvre, this volume is a detailed account of the artist's ceaseless creative process.

Focusing on Bridget Riley's newest body of works, this volume reflects the artist's exploration of curves to create paintings of great energy and movement. Accompanying an exhibition of new 'curvilinear’ works at Timothy Taylor Gallery, London (June–July 2006), these paintings incorporate complex layers of flowing forms that interlock and move with one another.

Using a patch of colour that is similar to a brushmark, Riley’s forms interrupt and threaten to break out from the picture plane, overhanging the frame to jostle and animate the visual field. Refining and developing this form in recent paintings, the artist's work offers an incredible melding of form and colour. Alongside over 20 full-colour illustrations, an in-depth essay by Paul Moorhouse examines the changes within Riley’s work throughout her multi-decade career.

Published to accompany a major retrospective, this lavishly produced volume surveys Bridget Riley’s innovative approach to painting and drawing.

Bridget Riley is one of the leading abstract painters of her generation. She first attracted critical attention with the dazzling black and white paintings made during the 1960s, and has continued to develop new styles in her work through a considered approach to colour, shape and perception.

This volume is a comprehensive survey of Riley’s work – covering over four decades of paintings and studies – and contains numerous colour illustrations alongside five essays and an interview with the artist by Jenny Harper.