Op art, also known as optical art, is used to describe some paintings and other works of art which use optical illusions.

Geometric Abstraction
Op art is also referred to as geometric abstraction and hard-edge abstraction, although the preferred term for it is perceptual abstraction.

 The term "Op" bears resemblance to the other popular movement of the 1960s, Pop Art though one can be certain such monikers were invoked for their catchiness and not for any stylistic similarities.

Seeing & Understanding
"Optical Art is a method of painting concerning the interaction between illusion and picture plane, between understanding and seeing." Op art works are abstract, with many of the better known pieces made in only black and white. When the viewer looks at them, the impression is given of movement, hidden images, flashing and vibration, patterns, or alternatively, of swelling or warping.

Exploring Art Style

Op Art is derived from the constructivist practices of the Bauhaus. This German school, founded by Walter Gropius, stressed the relationship of form and function within a framework of analysis and rationality.

Students were taught to focus on the overall design, or entire composition, in order to present unified works. When the Bauhaus was forced to close in 1933, many of its instructors fled to the United States where the movement took root in Chicago and eventually at the Black Mountain College in Asheville, North Carolina, where Anni and Josef Albers would come to teach.

Term Coined In Time
The term first appeared in print in Time magazine in October 1964, though works which might now be described as "op art" had been produced for several years previously. For instance, Victor Vasarely's painting, Zebras (1938), is made up entirely of curvilinear black and white stripes that are not contained by contour lines. Consequently, the stripes appear to both meld into and burst forth from the surrounding black ground of the composition.

The Responsive Eye

In 1965, an exhibition called The Responsive Eye, curated by William Seitz, was held at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City.

The works shown were wide ranging, encompassing the minimalism of Frank Stella and the smooth plasticity of Alexander Liberman, alongside the masters of the movement: Victor Vasarely and Bridget Riley.

The exhibition focused on the perceptual aspects of art, which result both from the illusion of movement and the interaction of color relationships, as seen in the painting by Arnold Alfred Schmidt. The exhibition was enormously popular with the general public, though less so with the critics.

Criticism
Critics dismissed Op art as portraying nothing more than trompe l'oeil, or tricks that fool the eye. Regardless, Op art's popularity with the public increased, and Op art images were used in a number of commercial contexts. Bridget Riley tried to sue an American company, without success, for using one of her paintings as the basis of a fabric design.