7 screenprints in black on paper, Riley's complete works from the 1960s in the medium

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Bridget Riley made her first print, the now famous black-and-white warped checkerboard Untitled [based on Movement in Squares], in 1962 at the insistent request of a colleague from the advertising agency for which she was working. Movement in Squares became a defining image of the Swinging London style and led in-part to the establishment of the Op Art movement. It would be the first of seven prints on paper, all black-and-white, that she would create during the 1960s. Along with a further seven Fragments, (images printed directly onto Plexiglas), they would mark the beginning of a realisation for the artist that the production of editions was to be an important part of her overall practice and would serve to distribute her ideas more widely.

“In 1960, when I was beginning to find my way in my black-and-white work I made many studies on and around the painting Movement in Squares (1961). I was working as an illustrator at J. Walter Thompson's advertising agency in Berkeley Square and undercover carrying on with my black-and-white work. Willie Landels, who was a leading art director at the agency, took an interest in what I was doing. It was a very exhilarating time for me after years of distress and frustration in which I had not been able to find a way of working. Willie wanted to have one of my black-and-white works himself. I was very flattered by this and he suggested that I made a print of Movement in Squares. Willie enthusiastically took charge. He found a commercial printer, chose suitable paper, and decided the size of the edition. I was very grateful to him for all this encouragement and thrilled that the print was such a success.”

Amongst the seven works on paper is Untitled [Oval Image], arguably the most elusive of all of Bridget Riley’s prints from a collector’s point of view. From an initial edition of 50, very few are thought to remain in existence. In the years that followed publication, the inclusion of a printer’s inscription along the bottom edge caused many to mistakenly think the work was some kind of reproduction, and it was treated accordingly. It has appeared at auction a mere three times in sixty years. Even the Tate Gallery does not hold a copy in its collection.

7 screenprints in black on paper, Riley's complete works from the 1960s in the medium

Bridget Riley

Artist: Bridget Riley (b.1931)
Title: 7 screenprints in black on paper, Riley's complete works from the 1960s in the medium
i) Untitled [based on Movement in Squares]
ii) Untitled [Circular Movement]
iii) Untitled [based on Primitive Blaze]
iv) Untitled [Oval Image]
v) Untitled [based on Blaze]
vi) Untitled [La Lune en Rodage – Carlo Belloli]
vii) Untitled [Winged Curve]
Medium: Screenprints in black on paper
Date: 1962-1966
Sizes: Dimensions as a group variable
i) - 20 ½ x 20 ½ : 52.0 x 52.0 cm
ii) - 10 ¾ x 10 ¾ in : 27.3 x 27.4 cm
iii) - 18 x 18 in : 45.7 x 45.7 cm
iv) - 30 x 14 in : 76.4 x 35.6 cm
v) - 20 ¾ x 20 ½ in : 52.9 x 52.1 cm
vi) - 12 ½ x 12 ½ in : 31.9 cm
vii) - 22 ¾ x 24 ½ in : 57.8 x 62.5 cm
Framed sizes: Dimensions as a group variable
i) 22 x 22 ½ in : 55.9 x 57.0 cm
ii) 13 ¼ x 13 ¼ in : 33.8 x 33.7 cm
iii) 21 ½ x 21 ½ in : 54.4 x 54.4 cm
iv) 33 ¼ x 17 in : 84.6 x 43.2 cm
v) 24 ¼ x 24 in : 61.7 x 60.8 cm
vi) 15 ¼ x 15 ¼ in : 38.7 x 38.7 cm
vii) 24 ½ x 26 ¼ in : 62.0 x 66.7 cm
Edition: i) From the edition of 26
ii) From the edition of 35
iii) From the edition of 40
iv) v) From the edition of 50
vi) From the edition of 200
vii) From the edition of 75
Inscriptions: i) ii) signed and numbered by the artist in pencil
iii)-vii) signed, dated and numbered by the artist in pencil
Printer: i)-iii) Printer unknown
iv)-vii) Kelpra Studio, London
Publisher: i)-iii) Published by the artist
iv) Published by the Institute of Contemporary Arts, London
v) Published by the artist
vi) Published by the Editions Panderma, Basel
vii) Published by the artist
Literature: "Bridget Riley - The Complete Prints 1962-2020", The Bridget Riley Art Foundation, Thames & Hudson, London, 2020, nos. BRS 1-5, 7-8, pp.50-59 & 72-75 (illus.)
Schubert 1,2,1A,3-7
Exhibited: i)-ii), iv-vii) Arts Council 2001-03
(other examples exhib.)
Reference: AC25-26/29, AC37/39