Seurat to Riley: The Art of Perception
Pattern, pointillism & Op art
8 July 2017 – 1 October 2017
“Snap, crackle, op. Compton Verney’s dazzling exhibition is how all shows should be done. … Bravo, Compton Verney. You have put op art back on the map.”
Waldmar Januszczak, Sunday Times Culture magazine
“This show fizzes with the zinging colours and eye-popping patterns of Op Art, from the Impressionists to the mind-bending Sixties experiments of Bridget Riley … a trippy, wild ride.”
Daily Telegraph
“Bridget Riley dazzles and Josef Albers’s abstractions glow gold in the heat. This is my art summer holiday – a perfect trip for the eye”
The Observer: critics’ guide to the summer holidays
About the
exhibition
One of the first exhibitions of its kind in the UK, Seurat to Riley: The Art of Perception explored how artists have exploited the ways in which the human eye and mind perceive what we see. Containing over ninety works including painting, sculpture, light works, prints and drawings from public and private collections, the exhibition also featured a gallery-sized mural by German abstract artist Lothar Götz commissioned by Compton Verney.
The journey began in the 19th century when artists were eagerly experimenting with the new exciting colour theories of the day. Discovering how they began to use colour in ways that simulated our real world experiences, replicating the colours of nature and even movement. The exhibition showed how this desire to create art that conjured up the world around us evolved throughout the 20th century to the mesmerising Op art of today. Works by twenty three artists included Georges Seurat, M.C. Escher, Josef Albers, Victor Vasarely, Bridget Riley, Peter Sedgley, Daniel Buren, Liz West and more.
