Bridget Riley, a retrospective
- from: 12.06.2008
- to: 14.09.2008
- In: Paris
Bridget Riley, a retrospective
agenda
from June 12th to September 14th, 2008
Practical
Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de ParisFull rate: 7.5 euros
Reduced rate: 5 euros
Young person's rate: 3.5 euros
Honoured through several exhibitions in the United States, Australia and Europe, Bridget Riley's work remains little known in France. The retrospective by Paris's Musée d'Art Moderne is therefore an opportunity to discover or rediscover this contemporary artist (born in 1931) who is now a referential figure.
The exhibition opens with her first canvases inspired by Seurat and concludes with more recent works, mostly unseen in Europe. She also offers a new perspective on her work - particularly on her black and white paintings popularized by Op'art. The artist has in fact always kept her distance from this movement and prefers to place herself in the Postimpressionist tradition. The tour is completed by two monumental and short-lived works, designed for the occasion: a mural, Composition with Circles 6 and Wall Painting 1.
Bridget Riley's painting reflects both her methodical approach and her inexhaustible curiosity about history of art. Although it is easy to distinguish various periods in her work, her paintings are always created using a restrained vocabulary of geometrical shapes and colours. They are broken down into series and give an impression of movement, space and effects of light. By replacing perception at the centre of aesthetic experience, the artist thereby enables everyone to reflect on what they see, or think they see.
This exhibition assembles more than 60 paintings on loan from international private and public collections (the Tate Collection, the British Council, the Arts Council Collection in London, Boijmans Van Beuningen Museum in Rotterdam, National Museum of Modern Art in Tokyo, etc.). This selection is completed by the inclusion of more than 80 drawings which display the artist's creative process.
"The pleasures of sight have one characteristic in common - they take you by surprise. They are sudden, swift and unexpected." (The Eye's Mind: Bridget Riley, London, Thames and Hudson, 1999).
The Bridget Riley retrospective at Paris's Musée d'Art Moderne, with its recent canvases in curved shapes and bright colours, echoes the two versions of La Danse (The Dance) by Matisse displayed in the museum's permanent collections.
- Updated: 10.11.2008
