Bridget Riley, the respected painter and patron of British “op art”, has been awarded the prestigious Rubens Prize of the City of Siegen.
The award is presented to a living European painter every five years for their “lifetime’s artistic accomplishment”.
In this case, Riley’s groundbreaking work in this niche field has been recognised for its ability to offer the art world something decidedly new; a groundbreaking talent who sought to disturb the eye’s ability to properly engage with a work of art.
In celebration of this award, the city is holding a special exhibition at the Museum für Gegenwartskunst Siegen, which runs until November 1st 2012.
The artist is also the subject of two major shows in London – Karsten Schubert in Soho and Hazlitt Holland-Hibbert in St James’.
In effect, they mark the half-century since her first commercial and critical exhibition at Victor Musgrave’s Gallery One in London.
Previous winners of the prize, which was established in 1995, have included Giorgio Francis Bacon (1967), Fritz Winter (1977), Cy Twombly (1987), Rupprecht Geiger (1992), Lucian Freud (1997) and Maria Lassnig (2002).