In 1959, Bridget Riley’s copy of Georges Seurat’s Bridge at Courbevoie (1886 87) offered the artist a new understanding of colour and tone, which led her to produce her first major works of pure abstraction during the early 1960s. In 2015 16, an exhibition at the Courtauld Gallery, London, presented seven of Riley’s paintings and this key Pointillist work by Seurat from the museum’s collection. Brought together for the first time, the exhibition demonstrated the two artists’ shared preoccupation with perception by looking at pivotal points throughout Riley’s career. Alongside full-colour illustrations, this publication features two essays written by Riley that offer the artist’s insights on Seurat’s importance to her own practice. An interview with the artist by Eric de Chassey, complemented by an introductory text by Karen Serres and Barnaby Wright, make this an important resource for art historians and general readers alike. AUTHORS: Karen Serres has served as the Schroder Foundation Curator of Paintings at the Courtauld Gallery since 2012, having previously worked at the Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, CT, and National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC. Barnaby Wright is Deputy Head of the Courtauld Gallery and the Daniel Katz Curator of 20th Century Art. Eric de Chassey is Director General of the French National Institute of Art History (INHA) and Professor of Modern and Contemporary Art History at the Ecole Normale Superieure in Lyon, France. He previously served as Director of the Academie de France a Rome - Villa Medicis. Ernst Vegelin van Claerbergen is the A & F Petitgas Head of The Courtauld Gallery. He holds an MA and PhD from the Courtauld Institute of Art, having gained his BA from Trinity College, Hartford, CT. SELLING POINTS: . Catalogue from an exhibition of the same title in 2015 16 featuring seven of Riley’s work alongside the 1880s painting by Post-impressionist master Georges Seurat. The painting inspired her back in 1959, on the cusp of her foray into abstraction . Features two essays by Riley herself that offer insights into Seurat’s importance to her work, as well as an artist interview. Additional texts put Riley’s and Seurat’s work into context . A superb illustration of how a figurative Pointillist painting from the 1880s inspired Riley
an abstract artist in the mid-twentieth century
and proved a touchstone for her career 25 colour illustrations
