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Bridget Riley
Silkscreen for Conspiracy: The Artist as Witness, iconic 1970s, signed/N Framed

1971

About the Item

Bridget Riley Print for The Chicago 8, from Conspiracy: The Artist as Witness (Schubert, 15), 1971 Silkscreen on 100% handmade rag paper Signed and numbered 110/150 and dated i1971 n graphite on the front also bears the printer's distinctive blind stamp Frame included: Work is elegantly floated and framed in a handmade white wood museum frame with Tru-vue Optium acrylic glazed plexi (the highest quality). Measurements: Framed: 25.75 inches vertical by 19.75 inches horizontal by 2 inches Artwork: 24 inches vertical by 18 inches horizontal This is one of the most celebrated and coveted silkscreens Bridget Riley ever made. Not too many Bridget Riley graphic works from this period are on the market. Original Op Art three color silkscreen on 100% handmade rag paper from the early 1970s -- the most desirable and collectible era -- by internationally renowned British abstract Op artist Bridget Riley, one of the leading artists of her generation - and one of the most bankable living female artists in the world. Hand signed, numbered and dated on the lower recto from the limited edition of 150. Also, the verso lower left features printed copyright stamp of the artist, with date: Copyright © 1971 and Bridget Riley Printer's distinctive blindstamp (Kelpra Studios London)with unique inventory number, verso lower right. Riley burst onto the international art scene in the mid Sixties, after being chosen to participate in the groundbreaking “Responsive Eye” exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art, alongside artists like Richard Anuszkiewicz, Yaacov Agam and Victor Vasarely - announcing the the ‘arrival’ of Op Art to the world. This stunning work was proofed under the supervision of the artist and printed by hand at Kelpra Studio Ltd., London, England. "Print for Chicago 8" was created for the legendary portfolio "CONSPIRACY: the Artist as Witness", to raise money for the legal defense of the Chicago 8 (who later became the Chicago 7) a group of anti-Vietnam War activists indicted by President Nixon's Attorney General John Mitchell for conspiring to riot during the 1968 Democratic National Convention. (1968 was also the year Bobby Kennedy was killed and American casualties in Vietnam exceeded 30,000.) The eight demonstrators included Abbie Hoffman, Jerry Rubin, David Dellinger, Tom Hayden, Rennie Davis, John Froines, Lee Weiner, and Bobby Seale. (The eighth activist, Bobby Seale, was severed from the case and sentenced to four years for contempt after being handcuffed, shackled to a chair and gagged.) Although Abbie Hoffman would later joke that these radicals couldn't even agree on lunch, the jury convicted them of conspiracy, with one juror proclaiming the demonstrators "should have been shot down by the police." All of the convictions were ultimately overturned by the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals. This classic Op Art print - quintessential Riley- is becoming increasingly scarce because so many from this edition are in the permanent collections of major museums and institutions worldwide. Published by: David Godine and the Center for Constitutional Rights Printed by: Chris Prater, Kelpra Studios Ltd., London, England Catalogue Raisonne Reference: Schubert, 15 Bridget Riley Biography Bridget Riley's (b. 1931) abstract compositions yield a singular sense of visual pleasure for the viewer, a notion derived as much from the artist's formative encounters with Old Master and Impressionist painting as from her early experiences with nature. Since 1961, she has focused exclusively on seemingly simple geometric forms, such as lines, circles, curves, and squares, arrayed across a surface—whether a canvas, a wall, or paper—according to an internal logic. The resulting compositions actively engage the viewer, at times triggering sensations of vibration and movement. This sense of dynamism was explored to great effect in the artist's earliest black-and-white paintings, which established the basis of her enduring formal vocabulary. In 1967, Riley introduced color into her work, thus expanding the perceptual and optical possibilities of her compositions. Riley was born in 1931 in London, where she attended Goldsmiths College from 1949 to 1952 and the Royal College of Art from 1952 to 1955. Riley’s first solo exhibitions were held at Gallery One, London, in 1962 and 1963, followed by two exhibitions at Robert Fraser Gallery, London, in 1966 and 1967. She was also at that time included in numerous group exhibitions such as Towards Art?, Royal College of Art London (1962); The New Generation, Whitechapel Gallery, London (1964); and Painting and Sculpture of a Decade 1954–1964, Tate Gallery, London (1964). In 1965, her work was included in the now-seminal group exhibition The Responsive Eye, organized by William Seitz at The Museum of Modern Art, New York. In 1968, she represented Great Britain at the 34th Venice Biennale (along with Philip King), where she was the first living British painter to win the prestigious International Prize for Painting. Her first retrospective, covering the period from 1961 to 1970, opened at the Kunstverein Hannover in 1971 and subsequently traveled to Kunsthalle Bern; Kunsthalle Düsseldorf; Galleria Civica d’Arte Moderna, Turin; and the Hayward Gallery, London. More recent significant solo presentations include those at Dia Center for the Arts, New York (2000-2001); Museum Haus Esters and Kaiser Wilhelm Museum, Krefeld, Germany (2002); Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney (2004-2005); Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris (2008); Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool (traveled to Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery; Norwich Castle Museum and Art Gallery; Southampton City Art Gallery; 2009-2010); The National Gallery, London (2010-2011); Art Institute of Chicago (2014-2015); The Courtauld Gallery, London (2015); De La Warr Pavilion, Bexhill on Sea, England (traveled to Gemeentemuseum, The Hague; 2015); Graves Gallery, Museum Sheffield, England (2016); Christchurch Art Gallery, New Zealand (2017); and Kawamura Memorial DIC Museum of Art, Sakura, Japan (2018). Bridget Riley: Perceptual Abstraction was on view at the Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, Connecticut, in 2022. The traveling exhibition Bridget Riley Drawings: From the Artist’s Studio, which includes drawings from the late 1940s to the present day, originated at The Art Institute of Chicago and will subsequently be on view at the Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, and the Morgan Library, New York, in 2023 A large-scale wall painting by Riley entitled Messengers was unveiled in 2019 at The National Gallery in London. Also in 2019, a solo presentation of the artist’s work that was organized by the National Galleries of Scotland opened at the Scottish National Gallery, Edinburgh, and traveled to the Hayward Gallery, London (2019-2020). In 1974, Riley was named a CBE (Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire) and in 1999, appointed the Companion of Honour. In 2003, the artist was awarded the Praemium Imperiale in Tokyo. She received the Kaiser Ring of the City of Goslar, Germany, in 2009 and the Rubens Prize of the City of Siegen, Germany, in 2012. Work by the artist is included in museum and public collections worldwide, including The Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, New York; Art Institute of Chicago; Arts Council, U.K.; British Council, U.K.; Dallas Museum of Art; Dia Art Foundation, New York; Israel Museum, Jerusalem; Kunstmuseum Bern; Los Angeles County Museum of Art; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Moderna Museet, Stockholm; Museum für Gegenwartskunst, Siegen, Germany; The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; The Museum of Modern Art, New York; National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo; Nationalgalerie, Berlin; Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam; and Tate, London. \ David Zwirner has worked with Riley since 2014, and the gallery's inaugural exhibition of her work, Bridget Riley: The Stripe Paintings 1961-2014, was held in London that year. In 2015, a career spanning survey was presented at the gallery in New York, and in 2018, the London gallery presented Riley’s recent works from the last four years. Bridget Riley – Studies: 1984-1997 was on view at the gallery’s London location in 2020. Bridget Riley: Past into Present was on view at David Zwirner, London in 2021. Riley lives and works in London, Cornwall, and France. -Courtesy of Zwirner Gallery
  • Creator:
    Bridget Riley (1931, British)
  • Creation Year:
    1971
  • Dimensions:
    Height: 25.75 in (65.41 cm)Width: 19.75 in (50.17 cm)Depth: 2 in (5.08 cm)
  • Medium:
  • Movement & Style:
  • Period:
  • Condition:
    This is a bright impression of this scarce early print; elegantly floated and framed in a handmade museum quality frame with Optium plexiglass.
  • Gallery Location:
    New York, NY
  • Reference Number:
    1stDibs: LU1745214337532
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