If you are a keen student of the visual nature of the 1960s, you’ll know the images, though not necessarily the name of artist. They are the black and white ‘Op Art’, picked up on by the likes of The Who in their ‘Pop Art’ period. The sight of drummer Keith Moon, wearing a vortex of black and white swirls on a T-shirt is well known.

Today I look at the life, times and work of the London artist responsible for that and much more, Bridget Riley CBE.

Born in Norwood in South London in April 1931, she went on to study at Goldsmith College between 1949 and 1952, before moving on to The Royal College of Art alongside names such as Peter Blake and Frank Auberach. She graduated with a BA Degree in 1955.

It was in 1960 that she first developed her ‘Op Art’ style, in which the painting took on an optical illusion, which in some cases, proved disorientating to the viewer.

‘Focusing isn’t just an optical activity, it is also a mental one.’

Her interest in ‘Op Art’ was first piqued while she worked as an illustrator in the advertising industry at the company J Walter Thompson. The work of Jackson Pollock, seen at an exhibition at The Whitechapel Gallery in 1958, became a strong early  influence.

She then exhibited her work in London in 1962 and she became a full time artist in late 1963. During that year, she had won the John Moore’s prestigious open section award.

As shown by the garments worn by The Who, much her 60s work was often illegally reproduced by the rag trade. A copyright law change in 1967 brought a stop (ish) to that, but in a curious way, it had had the effect of highlighting her work, if not necessarily her name, to the wider public.

During that heady decade, she was very much the ‘it’ girl of the art world. The extent of the clamour for her work was very clear at her first show in New York at the Richard Feigen gallery in 1965, with all of her 16 paintings sold out on the first day, with a long waiting list of collectors compiled very quickly for future work.

Always best known to the wider public, for her black and white art, she has also worked in colour from 1967. Although keener to have been known purely as an abstract artist, rather than a female abstract artist, Riley however became the first woman to win the International painting prize at the Venice Biennale of 1968.

‘I used to build up to sensation, accumulating tension until it released a perceptual experience’

Also in 1968, shewas instrumental in setting up SPACE – Space Provision Artistic Cultural and Educational – with the intention of providing affordable studio space for artists.

Her work has been shown all over the World in her now nearly 60-year career and in 1999 an exhibition of her work broke the attendance record for a show at The Serpentine Gallery in London with over 130,000 people attending.

Again, it was reported that the geometric shapes and patterns within her work, left some sensing movement on the canvas, which brought on the effect of motion sickness.

Her work in recent years, has been achieving remarkable prices. Classic 1960s pieces, such as ‘Chant 2’ and ‘Diagonal Curve’ changedhands for between 2 and 5 million dollars, setting her firmly among the top ten living British artists.

Still working, Riley has studio spaces in London, Cornwall and the South of France.

The Mumper of SE5