First Study for Fleeting Moment, 1986
Gouache on paper
Signed, titled and dated recto

Provenance: Mayor Rowan Gallery, London
66.7 x 64.0 cm (26¼ x 25¼ inches)

Provenance:
Mayor Rowan Gallery, London

Notes:
From her first London show at Victor Musgrave’s Gallery One in 1962, Bridget Riley’s work caused a stir. Her paintings challenged the eye and were thought capable of producing emotional effects - even though fundamentally cerebral and optical in spirit. In 1965 she was included in MoMA New York’s The Responsive Eye exhibition. The leading role played by Victor Vasarely was acknowledged and Op Art became famous internationally. In 1968 Riley won the International Prize for Painting and became the first living English painter and the first woman to do so. Riley’s early works were in black and white. Coloured greys followed and then pure colour in the late 1960s. In 1986, the year this study was made, she introduced a hitherto unexplored diagonal element to her work. It has been Riley’s practice to make gouache studies such as the present picture before the making of a large oil painting. Her work of the late 1980s, such as this one, was greeted with international acclaim by the public and critics alike. Bridget Riley was made a Companion of Honour in 1998. Her work is owned by numerous public and private collections and she has been given many major exhibitions nationally and internationally, including a large retrospective at the Hayward Gallery in 1992.
POA