Study Visit: Bridget Riley and Abstraction by Women Artists
Join OCA tutor Bryan Eccleshall on the 28 May at Graves Gallery in Sheffield.
We will see a set of Bridget Riley paintings from a period during which she represented Britain at the Venice Biennale.
These paintings mark a key shift in her practice: the introduction of colour. They seems to be concerned with light and are less austere in their abstraction than her earlier work.
Accompanying the paintings is a set of works that are a ‘retreading’ of the steps she made when making ‘Rise’, one of the paintings on display. These are accounts of analytical experiments in colour and weight and reveal her work as closely thought and careful. They show her thinking and we might even consider akin to a learning log entry…
Having finished works with these reflections is a fascinating combination and well worth seeing if you’re experimenting with abstraction or simply keen to see a major artist’s work in a quiet, contemplative way. The Graves is seldom busy and you’ll have a chance to really see the work.
Accompanying this collection is a small selection of abstract works by other female artists, which demonstrates the breadth of approach, from hard-edged to gestural, that these women undertook in the wake of the demise of the very male genre of Abstract Expressionism. There are works by Sandra Blow, Gillian Ayers, Sonia Delaunay, and Celia Sevitt.
The permanent collection is also available to see and I’ll be happy to talk about some of these paintings. I wrote about two of these on the ‘In Praise of the Local Collection’ blogpost.
To reserve your place email enquiries@oca.ac.uk
…though of course I realise that Sonia Delaunay pre-dates the Abstract Expressionists…
http://www.tate.org.uk/context-comment/articles/first-abstract-artist-and-its-not-kandinsky…
Difficult to say who was first…. But as a female Scandinavian my vote is on Hilma even though she did not share her work. 😉
The study visit sound super. Wish I could go. But Riley is luckily also Exhibiting in DK over summer.
I’d just like to confirm whether the title is correct:
“BR and The Abstraction ‘Of’ Women Artists”, or is it meant to be “BR and The Abstraction ‘By’ Women Artists”?
Yes I think you are right, I’ve adjusted it slightly, thank you!
Joanne.