Court victory for Bridget Riley

Associated media

British artist Bridget Riley, one of the UK's most important living artists, had sought judicial help in a copyright claim regarding a work of the German artist Tobias Rehberger. created for the Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz, Riley considered Rehberger’s Clockobject, to be a copy of one of her most famous paintings, Movement in Squares (1961).

On 15 January 2014, Riley and Rehberger settled the case before the Kammergericht, Berlin. According to the settlement, Rehberger’s Clockobject may only be published and shown with the addition to the title ‘after Movement in Squares by Bridget Riley’.

The Rehberger work – installed in the Rara-Reading Room in the Staatsbibliothek Unter den Linden (National Library, Berlin) – may only be shown there and can only be illustrated in an art historical context.

With these undertakings given by Rehberger and the Stiftung, Bridget Riley sees her copyright sufficiently acknowledged.

Bridget Riley waived all possible copyright claims regarding Rehberger’s Clockobject. In consideration and ‘as a sign of good will and without distancing himself from his legal point of view’ – as stated in the settlement – Rehberger will pay Riley the amount of €10,000. Riley will donate the money received from Rehberger to Space Studios, London, a charitable organization that she helped set up in 1968 and has been supporting ever since.

For articles about Bridget Riley in Cassone, see:

'Bridget Riley's alchemical paintings', October 2011 

'Bridget Riley: The sixties start here'  Free article, June 2012

'Bridget Riley: The sixties start here' Full version of article with images, June 2012

'Bridget Riley wins major colour prize', November 2012

'Bridget Riley's stripe paintings: An astonishing synthesis', October 2013.

Bridget Riley is represented by Karsten Schubert.