Bridget Riley
September 2004
For Bridget Riley printmaking is not a major activity; 19 Greys,
however, was produced when the artist was experiencing major
difficulties while working on the Deny paintings (1966). As Riley
stated in 1965, during the preparatory work for a painting, 'I may make
images which are tangential to the problems posed by the particular
painting. Some of these images I return to and develop later, others
remain as fragments of a theme.' (1)
The complexity of painting a grid of ovals on a painted surface drew Riley into the possibilities of overprinting. She selected four images which eventually became the suite of prints 19 Greys. The theme of the prints is 'denial'. Each image rests upon a grid which is then 'denied' by the directional flow of the ovals and this flow, in turn, is countered by the tonal sequence from light to dark. (2). As Gene Baro explains in his perceptive article on 19 Greys
It involves certain visual juxtapositions and confrontations where the elements or their activities neutralize one another, cancel one another out. The central subject of the prints is the result of this neutralization or cancellation. (3)
The series worked as prints because the 'inks provided the ideal luminosity and sustained subtle tonal gradations that were required and printing provided the crisp edges the absolute flatness and powdery overlay of colour' (4).
Printing 19 Greys was a challenge in itself involving three printers at Kelpra working on the project for a whole year. This was due to the incredible number of proofings involved, approximately 500 had to be printed in order to obtain a perfect edition of 75 artist's proofs. The difficulty lay in the fact that in order to gain the 'subtle mutations of the many tones of one colour...in drying by absorption into the powdery bloom of previous ink, these changed unpredictably as they were printed'(5).
Up to nineteen shades of grey were used in the prints with the powdery bloom of the inks producing just the right formulation of 'grey' needed to produce the contrasting effects of cold and warm and light and dark.
Riley has never lost her fascination for grey. In describing her childhood in Cornwall, which has formed the basis of her visual life, she recalls
To me the colours always seemed to be soft. One is very aware of greys - there is a wide range of subtle shades of greys, warm and cold - coloured greys in the slate of the rocks and stone walls, the colours of the sea, the sky, and the mists that are never far away. (6)
1. Robert Kudielka, Bridget Riley, Silkscreen Prints 1965-78 (Arts Council. 1980), no pagination
2. op.cit.
3. Gene Baro, 'Bridget Riley's 19 Greys', Studio International, no.176, December 1968, p.280
4. op.cit.
5. Kelpra Studio (Tate Gallery, London. 1980), p.24
6. In conversation with Bryan Robertson, from 'Things to Enjoy', ed. Robert Kudielka, Bridget Riley, Dialogues on Art (London, 1995), p.77
The complexity of painting a grid of ovals on a painted surface drew Riley into the possibilities of overprinting. She selected four images which eventually became the suite of prints 19 Greys. The theme of the prints is 'denial'. Each image rests upon a grid which is then 'denied' by the directional flow of the ovals and this flow, in turn, is countered by the tonal sequence from light to dark. (2). As Gene Baro explains in his perceptive article on 19 Greys
It involves certain visual juxtapositions and confrontations where the elements or their activities neutralize one another, cancel one another out. The central subject of the prints is the result of this neutralization or cancellation. (3)
The series worked as prints because the 'inks provided the ideal luminosity and sustained subtle tonal gradations that were required and printing provided the crisp edges the absolute flatness and powdery overlay of colour' (4).
Printing 19 Greys was a challenge in itself involving three printers at Kelpra working on the project for a whole year. This was due to the incredible number of proofings involved, approximately 500 had to be printed in order to obtain a perfect edition of 75 artist's proofs. The difficulty lay in the fact that in order to gain the 'subtle mutations of the many tones of one colour...in drying by absorption into the powdery bloom of previous ink, these changed unpredictably as they were printed'(5).
Up to nineteen shades of grey were used in the prints with the powdery bloom of the inks producing just the right formulation of 'grey' needed to produce the contrasting effects of cold and warm and light and dark.
Riley has never lost her fascination for grey. In describing her childhood in Cornwall, which has formed the basis of her visual life, she recalls
To me the colours always seemed to be soft. One is very aware of greys - there is a wide range of subtle shades of greys, warm and cold - coloured greys in the slate of the rocks and stone walls, the colours of the sea, the sky, and the mists that are never far away. (6)
1. Robert Kudielka, Bridget Riley, Silkscreen Prints 1965-78 (Arts Council. 1980), no pagination
2. op.cit.
3. Gene Baro, 'Bridget Riley's 19 Greys', Studio International, no.176, December 1968, p.280
4. op.cit.
5. Kelpra Studio (Tate Gallery, London. 1980), p.24
6. In conversation with Bryan Robertson, from 'Things to Enjoy', ed. Robert Kudielka, Bridget Riley, Dialogues on Art (London, 1995), p.77
Jennifer Ramkalawon