Bridget Riley (1931)

Painter born in Norwood, London. After her childhood in Cornwall and Lincolnshire and an education at Cheltenham Ladies' College she attended Goldsmiths' College, 1949-1952, and later at the Royal College of Art, 1952-55, where her peers included Peter Blake and Frank Auerbach. Her early work was figurative but about 1960 Riley began to develop her Op Art style comprising black and white geometric patterns that investigate the vitality of vision often culminating in a disorientating effect on the eye. Her first solo exhibition at Gallery One, London, was held in 1962, was followed by a second in 1963, for which Anton Ehrenzweig wrote the catalogue foreword. He also prepared a major critical essay on her art for Art International which helped secure her reputation. Riley worked entirely with black and white introducing colour only in 1966. Riley taught children for two years before joining the Loughborough School of Art, where she initia