OP ART (1960-1970)
Bridget Riley, born 1931
Shadowplay, 1990
The British painter Bridget
Riley rose to prominence in
the 1960s as one of the
leading practitioners of
what became known as Op
Art, an international
abstract movement
concerned with visual
effects and illusions.
Complimentary colors and
pattern/repetition are key
elements of her work.
Of her work, Riley said, "In my earlier paintings, I wanted
the space between the picture plane and the spectator to
be active. It was in that space, paradoxically, the painting
took place.“ “Then, little by little, and, to some extent
deliberately, I made it go the other way, opening up an
interior space, as it were, so that there was a layered,
shallow depth. It is important that the painting can be
inhabited, so that the mind's eye, or the eye's mind, can
move about it credibly.”
Of her paintings, she has also commented, “the eye can
travel over the surface in a way parallel to the way it
moves over nature. It should feel caressed and soothed,
experience frictions and ruptures, glide and drift…One
moment there will be nothing to look at and the next
second the canvas seems to refill, to be crowded with
visual events.”
BRIDGET RILEY (born 1931)
Conversation (1992)
Bridget Riley
Cataract 3, 1967
PVA on Canvas,
87x873/4 in.
Vasarely, Victor
Untitled
Victor Vasarely, artist
French, 1908 - 1997
Capella III, 1967
Color screenprint in black
and gold
Gift of the Pantechnicon
Victor Vasarely
1908–1997
Known as the “father of Op Art. He began painting
the geometrical abstractions that led to birth of Op
Art. Initially, he drew inspiration from the crackled
tiles he looked at every day while waiting for the
underground train in Paris.
When he began using brighter, more vibrant colors,
his works further enhanced the suggestion of
movement through optical illusion.
Victor Vasarely, French
DEUTON MC,
from the series of eight
prints Homage to the
Hexagon, 1969
Screenprint
Image: 60.5 x 60.5 cm (23
13/16 x 23 13/16 in.)
Sheet: 68 x 68 cm (26 3/4
x 26 3/4 in.)
American Realism
(Representationalism)
1940s - Present
Triple Selfportriat
1960:
Saturday
Evening
Post Cover
- 13
February
1960
Symbolism in Triple Self-portrait
Portraits of other master painters (Durer, Rembrandt, Van
Gogh, and Picasso) surround him--suggesting he places
himself in an equal relation to them; his own sketches for
the work in progress are at the left
Mirror—symbol of an image of himself; it is devoid of
personality (can’t even see his eyes); it is a mask he wears
that differs from who he is inside; the three different views
beg the question of who he really is
Discarded paper—likenesses he rejected (defining himself?)
American symbol—he paints the story of America
1926: Saturday
Evening Post Cover 24 April 1926
WYETH, Andrew
Christina's World
1948
Tempera
The Museum of Modern Art, New York
An eighteenth century sea captain's house in
Cushing, Maine haunted Andrew Wyeth
CHRISTINA OLSON
In 1890 Katie Hathorn was the last surviving child
of a long line of Hathorns who made their home in
the large white house located near the end of
Hathorn Point. Katie met Johan Olauson, a young
sailor from Sweden who had to spend the winter in
Cushing since the schooner he was working on was
icebound. They married two years later and Johan
changed his name to John Olson. The couple took
over the running of the Olson farm.
In 1893 their first child was born, named Anna
Christina. The family grew and three younger
brothers joined Christina. Christina and her
brothers attended the local schools but her mother
soon noticed that Christina had a weakness in her
legs and fell more often than the other children.
Katie sewed kneepads to protect her daughter
from her many falls.
As Christina grew to be a young woman she
attended social functions that were common for
small towns of that time. This included dances at
the Grange, church socials and a variety of social
club events.
But by the age of twenty-six Christina found it
increasingly difficult to stand without outside
support. Her parents sent her to Boston City
Hospital. She hated her stay in the hospital where
the doctors told her that her condition would not
improve.
Christina's mother died in 1927 and her father
followed in 1935. By 1935 Christina lived alone
in the Olson House with her brother Alvaro.
She continued to be involved with local social
functions where her baked goods were highly
prized.
One of Christina’s friends, Betsy James, brought
a young artist by the name of Andrew Wyeth to
meet the Olsons. Wyeth was immediately taken
with the old farm and with the brother and sister
who lived there.
Andrew married Betsy in 1940 and often visited
the Olson farm. Wyeth did many drawings,
watercolors and tempera paintings of the farm
and Christina over the nearly three decades that
he knew the Olsons. He claimed, “In the portraits
of that house, the windows are eyes or pieces of
the soul almost. To me, each window is a
different part of Christina’s life.”
Christina's disability increased with age. When
she was fifty-three, she was unable to stand and
stopped walking, resorting to only crawling to get
where she wanted to go.
Christina's World, painted in 1948 by Andrew
Wyeth immortalized Christina forever in the
minds of millions of people.
Christina Olson died in January of 1968 one
month after her brother Alvaro’s death in
December of 1967.
Andrew Wyeth
American, born 1917
Brandywine Valley, 1940
watercolor on wove paper, 55.6 x 76.3 cm (21 7/8 x 30 1/16 in.)
The Armand Hammer Collection
1991.217.72
The Art Institute of Chicago
and VAGA, New York, NY
Grant Wood
American, 1891-1942
American Gothic, 1930
Oil on beaverboard
74.3 x 62.4 cm
John Currin
Stamford After Brunch, 2000
Super realism
or
photo-realism
Richard Estes
Born 1932 in Kewanee, IL
Lives and works in New York, NY
Water Taxi, Mount Desert, 1999
oil paint on canvas
Richard Estes
oil paint on canvas
Richard Estes
TITLE: Market Basket Harley ARTIST: Tom Blackwell
WORK DATE: 2007 MATERIALS: Acrylic on paper
SIZE: h: 16.5 x w: 22 in / h: 41.9 x w: 55.9 cm
TITLE: Sagaponack Sunday ARTIST: Tom Blackwell
WORK DATE: 2003 MATERIALS: Oil on linen
SIZE: h: 48 x w: 72 in / h: 121.9 x w: 182.9 cm
TITLE: Ferrariworld, Fall ARTIST: Tom Blackwell
WORK DATE: 2006 MATERIALS: huile sur toile
SIZE: h: 101.6 x w: 152.4 cm / h: 40 x w: 60 in
Tom Blackwell
Chuck Close
Nancy, 1968.
Acrylic on canvas.
Milwaukee Art
Museum
Gift of Herbert H.
Kohl Charities, Inc.
Chuck Close
Bob
Chuck Close
Chuck Close
"The Event"
On December 7, 1988, Close felt a strange pain in his
chest. That day he was at a ceremony honoring local artists
in New York City and was waiting to be called to the
podium to present an award. Close delivered his speech and
then made his way across the street to Beth Israel Medical
Center where he suffered a seizure which left him
paralyzed from the neck down. The cause was diagnosed as
a spinal artery collapse. Close called that day "The Event."
For months Close was in rehab strengthening his muscles;
he soon had slight movement in his arms and could walk,
yet only for a few steps. He has relied on a wheelchair
since.
However, Close continued to paint on with a brush
strapped onto his wrist with tape, creating large portraits
in low-resolution grid squares created by an assistant.
Viewed from afar, these squares appear as a single, unified
image which attempt photo-reality, albeit in pixilated
form. Although the paralysis restricted his ability to paint
as meticulously as before, Close had, in a sense, placed
artificial restrictions upon his hyper-realist approach well
before the injury. He had adopted materials and
techniques that did not lend themselves well to achieving
a photorealistic effect. Close proved able to create his
desired effects even with the most difficult of materials to
control.
Chuck Close
Self Portrait, 1997.
Pixel style portrait.
Crayola, 1972-3 28 x 40 Audrey Flack
Wildlife Art
1970-Present
Terry Redlin
Wild Wings
He is one of the country's most widely collected painters of
wildlife and Americana.
Terry Redlin
Autumn Glow
Having retired in 2007 Redlin reflected on his career, saying, “I wanted to tell
stories with my paintings, to remember the experiences of my youth, and to
imagine and capture forever events that have been related to me by older folks I
have had the pleasure of knowing.” “America’s rural past, in my eyes, was a
wonderful place full of both beauty and opportunity. How fortunate I’ve been to
spend my life creating memories of those distant times for others to enjoy.”
Eileen Doughty's specialty is creating landscape art
quilts; she has said that she loves “the concept of
‘place’” so her “preferred subject matter” is the
landscape.
detail from “Prairie Roots Run Deep”
William Millonig
"Windfall Crossing"
Whitetail
24" x 33" - Oil
Bill and his family
live in the heart of
Wisconsin's Kettle
Moraine. He has
been painting since
he was a young boy
getting early training
from his mother,
who was an artist,
and later from
several schools and
artists in Wisconsin
and Minnesota.
William Millonig
"Cattails and Rooster Tails"
LeRoy Niemann
“Family Portrait”
LeRoy Niemann
“Portrait of the Lion”
Sports Art
1970 - Present
LeRoy Neimann
“Magic”
1988
LeRoy Niemann
“Chipping On”
1972
Robert Riger
“Victory in the Mud”
1994
Riger created his first sport
art from an Army-Navy
football game that required
five lithograph pencils and
140 hours.
Robert Riger
“Rocky Marciano”
Robert Riger
“Dolph Schayes”