Mid Term Assignment

OP ART MOVEMENT

BY HARSHITA HAJELA
 INTRODUCTION
"There was a time when meanings were focused and reality could be fixed; when that sort of belief
disappeared, things became uncertain and open to interpretation."

Artists have been intrigued by the nature of

perception and by optical effects and illusions for
many centuries. They have often been a central
concern of art, just as much as themes drawn from
history or literature. Thus in 1960‟s there was the
birth of a yet intriguing style of art which was later
widely recognized as Optical Art or simply called OP
Art.

OP Art is a form of abstract art (specifically non-

objective art) which mainly relies on creation of
optical illusions in order to fool the eye of the viewer and give a tangible dimension to illusionary space. It is also called
optical art or retinal art as it questions the visual understanding of the eye. Op Art represents a great deal of math,
planning and technical skill, as none of it came freshly-inked out of a computer peripheral. While some ridiculed it for
its lack of beauty and bemusement, to many, it seemed the perfect style for an age defined by the onward march of
science, by advances in computing, aerospace, and television. Original, hand-created Op Art deserves respect, at the
very least.

BRIEF HISTORY OF OP ART

In 1950s stirred new interests in technology and
psychology, blossomed into a movement. The term
"Op art" may have been first used by artist and
writer Donald Judd, in a review of an exhibition of
"Optical Paintings" by Julian Stanczak. But it was
made popular by its use in a 1964 Time magazine
article, and its origins date back many years.
However, the style we now know as Op emerged from
the work of Victor Vasarely, who first explored
unusual perceptual effects in some designs from the
1930s. Vasarely's work soon attracted followers Zebra by Victor Vasarely, 1938
across the world: Bridget Riley, who, like Vasarely, had
worked in advertising, took up the style and soon achieved even more prominence than Vasarely, and many South
American artists, mainly residing in Paris, also worked in an Op mode. But modern interest in the retinal art movement
stems from 1965 when a major Op Art exhibition in New York, entitled "The Responsive Eye," caught public attention.

MoMA's The Responsive Eye, 1965

In 1965, between February 23 and April 25 an

exhibition called The Responsive Eye, created by
William C. Seitz was held at the Museum of
Modern Art in New York City. The exhibition
focused on the perceptual aspects of art, which
result both from the illusion of movement and the
interaction of colour relationships. While some of
the viewer‟s found the paintings and installations
disturbing and inharmonious, most were amazed
with the new kind of art expression which was
defined with the laws of science and progression.

The Responsive Eye showcased 123 paintings and

sculptures by artists such as Victor Vasarely,
Bridget Riley, Frank Stella, Carlos Cruz-Diez,
Jesus-Rafael Soto, and Josef Albers. Because of Actual pictures from ’The Responsive Eye’ gallery
the success of The Responsive Eye the public
became enraptured with the Op Art movement. As a result, one began to see Op Art showing up everywhere: in print
and television advertising, as LP album art and as a fashion motif in clothing and interior decoration. On the other side
of the story critics dismissed op art as portraying nothing more than tricks that fool the eye.

THE OP ART MOVEMENT

Despite critics‟ attempts to ridicule the Op art, it gained much popularity and mass acceptance, and was soon
advanced as the Op Art Movement. It started off in mid 1960s with Victor Vasarely, emerging as the leader of the Op Art
Movement, though many other artists contributed to the development of this art movement. This movement included
work of a growing group of abstract painters who specifically based their work on creating illusionary artworks which
tricked the viewer‟s eyes.

Influence on Op Art Movement

The antecedents of Op art, in terms of graphic and colour effects can be traced back to Neo-impressionism, Cubism,
Futurism, Constructivism and Dadaism where too geometry, proportion and dimension played an important role in
distortion of view or creation of illusionary balance in the space. Op art perhaps more closely derives from the
constructivist practices of the Bauhaus School which stressed the relationship of form and function within a
framework of analysis and rationality.
Key Features of Op Art
Op Art can be defined as a type of abstract or concrete art consisting of non-representational geometric shapes which
create various types of optical illusion. Op Art exploits the functional relationship between the eye‟s retina (the organ
that „sees‟ patterns) and the brain (the organ that interprets patterns). Certain visual stimuli can cause confusion
between these two organs, resulting in the perception of irrational optical phenomena, something the Op Artists used
to full effect.

 Op compositions create a sort of visual tension, in the

viewer's mind, that gives works the illusion of motions
within a 2D surface. Op Art pictures may cause the eye
to detect a sense of movement which may be of swelling,
warping, flashing, vibration etc. on the surface of the
painting.
 The critical techniques used in Op Art are perspective
and careful juxtaposition of colour (whether chromatic
[identifiable hues] or achromatic [black, white or gray]).
 The elements employed (colour, line and shape) are
carefully chosen to achieve maximum effect.
The patterns, shapes and colours used in these pictures
Enigma - 1981 Isia Leviant
are typically selected for their illusional qualities, rather
than for their substantive or emotional content. The use of repetition of pattern and line, often in high contrast black
and white was one way Op Artists used to create this illusion of movement. The overall optical effect of the technique
leads the viewer to see flashing and vibration, or
alternatively swelling or warping.
With Op Art came an acute awareness of the work done on
the science of colour and colour theory. Colours appear to
change depending on their proximity to other colours. Those
colours in the cool range – blues, purples & greens – are
recessive and seem to sink back on the surface whilst the
warm colours – red, orange and yellow particularly – are
‟emergent‟. The manipulation of colours to achieve apparent
movement is endless and the colour relationships in play
are known as simultaneous contrast, successive contrast,
and reverse contrast (or assimilation).
 Op artists use both positive and negative spaces in a
composition with equal importance to create the desired
illusions. Because of its geometrically-based nature, Op
Art is, almost without exception, non-representational.
Despite this non-representational nature, the Op Artists An optical illusion by Victor Vasarely in Pecs
made extensive use of the traditional perspective
techniques originally developed to allow for the accurate representation of the natural world in art, in order to
create the feeling of depth and space within their paintings.
 DEVELOPMENTS IN OP-ART
Key artists and works
Many artists have worked with optical illusions, including M.C. Escher, Bridget Riley, Salvador Dalí, Giuseppe
Arcimboldo, Marcel Duchamp, Victor Vasarely, Oscar Reutersvärd, and Charles Allan Gilbert. In painting, Victor
Vasarely and Bridget Riley were producing large amounts of art and the same can be said for many digital artists, such
as Akiyoshi Kitaoka.

VICTOR VASARELY
It wasn‟t considered “op-art” when painter, sculptor, and
innovator Victor Vasarely began creating in the 1930s when he
belonged to the highly acclaimed art institute Bauhaus. Working
as a graphic designer, used organic shapes and chromatic
patterns that contained the rudimentary elements of the optical
and structured geometric themes that would eventually follow.
The artist became infatuated with graphic studies, and
experimented with textural effects, perspective, shadow, and
light. By creating multi-dimensional works of art via
superimposing patterned layers of cellophane atop one another,
Vasarely combined painting with sculpture to create the illusion Yvaral, 1956
of depth. In 1947, Vasarely began to understand his role as an
artist, concluding that “internal geometry” was the pinnacle of his
inspiration. The artist combined the frames into a single pane by
transposing photographs in strictly black and white, resulting in a
culmination of a few different approaches.

Between 1960 and 1980, the artist pioneered his version of the
Alphabet Plastique, frequently revered as Vasarely‟s greatest
contribution to 20th century art. Vasarely‟s alphabet provided
infinite possibilities for creative works, with the ability to remix
and rework “letters” to speak to different subjects. His works
shortly gained special notices after his participation in the MoMA‟s
“The Responsive Eye” exhibition in which many of his works were
exhibited.
Alphabet VR, 1960

MAURITS CORNELIS ESCHER

MC Escher was a Dutch graphic artist known for his works featuring
impossible constructions, explorations of infinity, architecture, and

Drawing Hands, 1948

 tessellations. Around 1924, Escher lost interest in "regular
division" of planes, and turned to sketching landscapes in Italy
with irregular perspectives that are impossible in natural form.
He worked primarily in the media of lithographs and woodcuts,
though the few mezzotints he made are considered to be
masterpieces of the technique. In his graphic art, he portrayed
mathematical relationships among shapes, figures and space.
Additionally, he explored interlocking figures using black and
white to enhance different dimensions. Integrated into his prints
were mirror images of cones, spheres, cubes, rings and spirals.
His early love of Roman and Italian landscapes and of nature led
to his interest in the concept of regular division of a plane,
which he applied in over 150 coloured works.

Relativity, 1953

BRIDGET RILEY
Bridget Riley is one of Britain's best-known artists. Since
the mid-1960s she has been celebrated for her distinctive,
Op art paintings which actively engage the viewer's
sensations and perceptions, producing visual experiences
that are complex and challenging.

Thus she is acclaimed as one of the finest exponents of Op

Art, with her subtle variations in size, shape and position of
blocks within the overall pattern. Though carefully planned,
her patterns are intuitive and not strictly derived from
scientific or mathematical calculations, and their
Movement in Squares, 1961
geometrical structure is often disguised by the illusory
effects.

Riley‟s works seems to merge the physiological and

psychological responses of the eye. Her work is
characterized by its intensity and it's often disorientating
effect. Indeed the term 'Riley sensation' was coined to
describe this effect of looking at the paint ings, especially
her early black and white pictures.

Fall, 1963
Photographic Op Art
Although being relatively mainstream, photographers
have been slow to produce op art. Contemporary
artists like Akiyoshi Kitaoka (Professor of Psychology)
experimented successfully with bringing out the
optical illusion within the photograph as well. He
specialized in visual perception and visual illusions of
geometrical shape, brightness, colour, in motion
illusions and other visual phenomena like Gestalt
completion and perceptual transparency, based on a
modern conception of Gestalt psychology. An optical illusion similar to
Rotating Snakes by Akiyoshi Kitaoka

Trompe-l'œil
It is an art technique involving extremely
realistic imagery in order to create the optical
illusion that the depicted objects really exist,
instead of being just two-dimensional
paintings. The name is derived from French for
"trick the eye", from tromper - to deceive and
l'œil - the eye. These trompe-l'oeil drawings
are created using a projection called
anamorphosis and appear to defy the laws of
perspective. An eminent artist in this genre is Pool sidewalk chalk drawing by Julian Beever
English contemporary artist Julian Beever, who uses the op art techniques to create the illusion of three dimensions
when viewed from the right location.

Op Art Reliefs and Constructions

Along with a number of paintings showcased in MoMA's 1965 exhibition „The
Responsive Eye‟ there were a series of structures designed on the principal of Op
Art. The credit for the same goes to eminent Russian constructivists Tatlin, Gabo
and Pevsar who made Op installations as a
major direction in abstract art. Later many
artists experimented with the techniques and
created impressive versions of Op art Reliefs
and Constructions.

Sculpture of the small stellated Unstable Transformation

dodecahedron by M.C. Escher in (Juxtaposition – Superposition)
Campus of the University of Twente 1962 by Sobrino
 IMPACT OF OP-ART MOVEMENT
Although the highly complex perceptual effects
created by Op artists were embraced by the
general public, many art critics considered the
phenomena to be a fleeting and somewhat
gimmicky trend. Commercial success may have led
to the decline of the movement, in particular after
some artists discovered that their work designs
were borrowed by American clothing
manufacturers. One of the great stories
surrounding MoMA's 1965 exhibition "The
Responsive Eye" is how collector/garmento Larry
Aldrich turned several Op paintings he owned into
fabrics, and then into dresses, which fed into the
Op Art Trend that was apparently swirling around
New York.

Op art elements were also translated into

posters, t-shirts and book illustrations. Audiences
who initially embraced the movement later
denounced it as nothing more than tricks of the
eye. Although the movement lost popularity by
1968, the systematic optical effects continue to be
explored in visual art and architecture.