op artn.adj.
/ˌɒp ˈɑːt/, U.S. /ˈɑp ˈɑrt/ A. n.
A style of abstract art in which geometrical patterns and bold colour contrasts are used to emphasize the optical relationship of the viewer with the work.The movement came to prominence in New York in the mid 1960s, and involved such practitioners as Bridget Riley and Victor Vasarely.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > visual arts > period, movement, or school of art > late 19th and 20th centuries > [noun] > op art
op art1964
optical art1964
opticality1968
1964 Time 23 Oct. 78/1 Op art is made tantalizing, eye-teasing, even eye-smarting by visual researchers using all the ingredients of an optometrist's nightmare.
1965 Sun 24 May 5/7 Then you get a blasting of Op art—that's the optical illusion art that the young artists are raving about.
1974 Encycl. Brit. Micropædia VII. 545/1 The effects of Op art can be based either on perspective illusion or on chromatic tension; in painting, the dominant medium of Op art, the surface tension is usually maximized to the point at which an actual flickering is perceived by the human eye.
2001 C. Freeland But is it Art? iii. 78 Aboriginal dot paintings resemble Western Op art or abstract expressionism.
B. adj.
Of or relating to this style of art; (of a garment, fabric, etc.) patterned with bold black and white checks or geometric shapes.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > visual arts > period, movement, or school of art > late 19th and 20th centuries > [adjective] > op-art
op1964
op art1966
1966 Punch 2 Feb. 158/1 (caption) Or there's this op-art bowler, sir, for more formal occasions.
1967 J. Symons Man who killed Himself ii. vi. 184 She was dressed now in a black and white op art dress.
1976 ‘Z. Stone’ Modigliani Scandal i. iii. 35 He..looked at the desk... The grain..flowed like an op-art painting.
2000 Elle Sept. 130/4 This autumn/winter's black and white op art print is too extreme for you.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2004; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.adj.1964