CREATING AN ILLUSION: THE COMPLEXITIES OF CONSERVING WORKING DRAWINGS BY BRIDGET RILEY

Abstract

Bridget Riley is one of the forerunners of contemporary art. Her work embodies visual illusion which is accentuated with variation of tone and colour. This paper presents a case study of the conservation treatments and the ethical considerations involved in the preparation of a collection of working drawings for a retrospective of the artist’s work at Tate Britain. Most of the drawings for the exhibition dated from the early 1960s and 1970s. Despite careful framing and storage in most cases, the works had suffered through the passage of time and the deterioration of materials. A working drawing, by definition, shows the development and alterations in the artist’s ideas as they progress towards a completed work. However, in this case, Bridget Riley’s perfectionist approach demanded that imperfections distracting from the visual impact of the works should be removed, whilst preserving elements that indicated the spontaneity and thought process of their development. As a result, close collaboration with the artist and continual reappraisal of the treatment were necessary, as well as consideration of the requirements for the exhibition.