Optical Art Books and Websites

EluZions.com Illusions Art Optical : • Posters

Dali's Optical Illusions is the first to probe Dali's fascination with optical effects and perception, packing in examples of Dali's works and commenting on his sources, inspiration, and methods. Accompanying discussions to each page of illustration comment on technique, inspiration, and visual impact of Deli's images. Highly recommended.

General

Artists by Movement: Optical Art

1950's to 1960's. Also contains links to individual artists.

Outrageous Optical Art

This track will explore optical illusions and will focus on the Op Art of Bridget Riley and M.C. Escher.

Optical Art

...also commonly known as 'Op Art' is a movement which was most prominent between the years 1965 and 1968. Op Art first grabbed public attention when an article appeared in "Time" magazine, October 1964. Many critics denounced Op art, saying that it had been done before and that it was just glorification of basic design and psycology textbooks. However, for those three years, Op art influenced a variety of fields, such as fashion fabrics, poster design and interior decor. Contains links to individual artists with a short biography of each.

Artists

Bridget Riley

The Artist's Eye: Bridget Riley's Selection from The National Gallery

Bridget Riley demonstrates the power of color as a structural element in picture-making. She discusses questions central to her own work, while at the same time illuminating the art of the past. Paintings by Titian, Veronese, El Greco, Rubens, Poussin and Cézanne are used as examples.

Bridget Riley born 1931

Riley was born at Norwood, London, the daughter of a businessman. Her childhood was spent in Cornwall and Lincolnshire. She studied at Goldsmiths' College from 1949 to 1952, and at the Royal College of Art from 1952 to 1955. She began painting figure subjects in a semi-impressionist manner, then changed to pointillism around 1958, mainly producing landscapes. In 1960 she evolved a style in which she explored the dynamic potentialities of optical phenomena. These so-called 'Op-art' pieces, such as Fall, 1963 (Tate Gallery T00616), produce a disorienting physical effect on the eye.

Victor Vasarely

Examples of work

Op Art and Biography of Victor Vasarely

Op (for optical) art was a movement that developed in the 1960s in Europe and in the United States. As a movement Op Art involved a wide range of different kinds of art all involving optical illusion or some other specific aspect of perception. Because movement is important in both, op art and kinetic sculpture are closely related.

Vasarely Biography

Victor Vasarely (1906-1997) is internationally recognized as one of the most important artists of the 20th century. He is the acknowledged leader of the Op Art movement, and his innovations in color and optical illusion have had a strong influence on many modern artists.

Victor Vasarely

Many pictures.