Bridget Riley: A Very Very Person
The Early Years
Will be published approx. on 2. September 2019
Book
Paperback/Softback
272 pages
978-1-909932-50-0 (ISBN)
Description
'"As Paul Moorhouse shows in this thorough and sensitive first biography, which concentrates on [Riley's] early years up to the age of thirty-four, it was only after many false starts, bracing shocks and firm decisions that Riley found her way as an abstract painter in the early 1960s with her eye-dazzling lines, squares, curves ... in ultra-hard-edged black-and-white". -Times Literary Supplement
"In "Bridget Riley: A Very Very Person - The Early Years," Paul Moorhouse ... homes in on the period between the artist's childhood and her earliest success, and makes a surprising but compelling case for the influence of landscape on Ms Riley's distinctive style." -Wall Street Journal
"An entertaining and informative text that adds greatly to our understanding of a very prominent and still highly intriguing British artist." -Hyperallergic
In January 1965 the international art world converged on New York to pay homage to a brilliant new star. The glittering opening of The Responsive Eye, a major exhibition of abstract painting at the Museum of Modern Art, signalled the latest phenomenon, op art - and its centre of attention was a young painter named Bridget Riley, whose dazzling painting Current appeared on the cover of the catalogue. Riley's first solo show in New York sold out, and, following a feature in Vogue magazine, the Riley 'look' became a fashion craze. Overnight, she had become a sensation, yet only three years earlier, she was a virtual unknown. How did success arrive so suddenly?
Authored by the acclaimed curator and writer Paul Moorhouse, A Very Very Person is the first biography of Bridget Riley and addresses that tantalising question. Focusing on her early years, it tells the story of a remarkable woman whose art and life were entwined in surprising ways. This intimate narrative explores Riley's wartime childhood spent in the idyllic Cornish countryside, her subsequent struggles to find her way as an artist, and the personal challenges she faced before finally arriving as one of the world's most celebrated artists in Swinging Sixties London.
"In "Bridget Riley: A Very Very Person - The Early Years," Paul Moorhouse ... homes in on the period between the artist's childhood and her earliest success, and makes a surprising but compelling case for the influence of landscape on Ms Riley's distinctive style." -Wall Street Journal
"An entertaining and informative text that adds greatly to our understanding of a very prominent and still highly intriguing British artist." -Hyperallergic
In January 1965 the international art world converged on New York to pay homage to a brilliant new star. The glittering opening of The Responsive Eye, a major exhibition of abstract painting at the Museum of Modern Art, signalled the latest phenomenon, op art - and its centre of attention was a young painter named Bridget Riley, whose dazzling painting Current appeared on the cover of the catalogue. Riley's first solo show in New York sold out, and, following a feature in Vogue magazine, the Riley 'look' became a fashion craze. Overnight, she had become a sensation, yet only three years earlier, she was a virtual unknown. How did success arrive so suddenly?
Authored by the acclaimed curator and writer Paul Moorhouse, A Very Very Person is the first biography of Bridget Riley and addresses that tantalising question. Focusing on her early years, it tells the story of a remarkable woman whose art and life were entwined in surprising ways. This intimate narrative explores Riley's wartime childhood spent in the idyllic Cornish countryside, her subsequent struggles to find her way as an artist, and the personal challenges she faced before finally arriving as one of the world's most celebrated artists in Swinging Sixties London.
Reviews / Votes
An exceptionally informative and deftly crafted biography of an impressive woman and her equally impressive artistic accomplishments, "Bridget Riley: A Very Very Person: The Early Years" features a center section of illustrations and is an extraordinary and engaging read from beginning to end.--Julie Summers "Midwest Book Review " In "Bridget Riley: A Very Very Person--The Early Years," Paul Moorhouse, a former senior curator at the National Portrait Gallery in London, doesn't attempt a full-scale biography but instead homes in on the period between the artist's childhood and her earliest success, and makes a surprising but compelling case for the influence of landscape on Ms. Riley's distinctive style.--Ann Landi "Wall Street Journal " As Paul Moorhouse shows in this thorough and sensitive first biography, which concentrates on her early years up to the age of thirty-four, it was only after many false starts, bracing shocks and firm decisions that Riley found her way as an abstract painter in the early 1960s with her eye-dazzling lines, squares, curves, ovals, circles, stripes and zigzags in ultra-hard-edged black-and-white.--Jerome Boyd Maunsell "Times Literary Supplement " [A Very Very Person] is an entertaining and informative text that adds greatly to our understanding of a very prominent and still highly intriguing British artist.--HyperallergicMore details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Unsewn / adhesive bound
Illustrations
19 Illustrations, black and white; 11 Illustrations, color
Dimensions
Height: 227 mm
Width: 154 mm
Thickness: 20 mm
Weight
507 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-909932-50-0 (9781909932500)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
Paul Moorhouse is an art historian and curator. He was Senior Curator at the National Portrait Gallery, London (2005-17) and Senior Curator at Tate, London (1985-2005), where he curated a major Bridget Riley retrospective exhibition in 2003. Recent books include Cindy Sherman (2014), Bridget Riley: From Life (2010), the award-winning Gerhard Richter: Painting Appearances (2009), Pop Art Portraits (2007) and Richard Long: Walking the Line (2003).
Bridget Riley was born in 1931 in London, UK, and studied at Goldsmiths College (1949-52) and Royal College of Art, London (1952-55). She initially came to prominence as part of the Op art movement in the early 1960s and has been exhibiting internationally since 1962. She has had notable solo at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, Serpentine Gallery, London, and Tate Britain, London. Riley was made a CBE in 1974, appointed the Companion of Honour in 1999, and received the Kaiser Ring of the City of Goslar in 2003. She currently lives and works in London.
Bridget Riley was born in 1931 in London, UK, and studied at Goldsmiths College (1949-52) and Royal College of Art, London (1952-55). She initially came to prominence as part of the Op art movement in the early 1960s and has been exhibiting internationally since 1962. She has had notable solo at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, Serpentine Gallery, London, and Tate Britain, London. Riley was made a CBE in 1974, appointed the Companion of Honour in 1999, and received the Kaiser Ring of the City of Goslar in 2003. She currently lives and works in London.
Content
Preface 9
1 Ancestral landscape 15
2 A very very person 27
3 Unearthly beauty 36
4 Leaving Trevemadar 45
5 First steps 52
6 Great promise 59
7 The fledgling 72
8 To Goldsmiths 78
9 Looking and drawing 85
10 The bargain not kept 96
11 Paradise and disaster 105
12 Crisis 115
13 Recovery 125
14 Developing process 168
15 A visual education 178
16 Looking becomes the subject 184
17 Italy 193
18 Into black 203
19 Movement in Squares 213
20 Gallery One 221
21 New horizons 229
22 Saint Elmo's fire 236
23 Acclaim 248
Notes 260
Index 264
Photographic Credits 269
1 Ancestral landscape 15
2 A very very person 27
3 Unearthly beauty 36
4 Leaving Trevemadar 45
5 First steps 52
6 Great promise 59
7 The fledgling 72
8 To Goldsmiths 78
9 Looking and drawing 85
10 The bargain not kept 96
11 Paradise and disaster 105
12 Crisis 115
13 Recovery 125
14 Developing process 168
15 A visual education 178
16 Looking becomes the subject 184
17 Italy 193
18 Into black 203
19 Movement in Squares 213
20 Gallery One 221
21 New horizons 229
22 Saint Elmo's fire 236
23 Acclaim 248
Notes 260
Index 264
Photographic Credits 269