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Peter Sedgley
Peter Sedgley (19 March 1930 – 17 March 2025) was an English visual artist associated with Op art and Kinetic art. He co-founded SPACE, which is the oldest continuously operating art studio in London, and the Artist Information Registry (AIR) with Bridget Riley in 1968.
Peter Sedgley was born in London on 19 March 1930. His father was a railway engineer. He studied building and architecture at Brixton School of Building from 1943 to 1947. From 1948 to 1950 he completed national service with the Royal Army Ordnance Corps (RAOC) in Egypt. He worked as an architectural assistant from 1950 to 1958. In 1960 he set up a small design and construction firm making “prototype dwellings”. In 1963 he began to make art full-time. In 1968 he co-created SPACE with Bridget Riley and Peter Townsend. In a 1967 interview he said, “I wanted to concern myself with philosophy. I felt the need to get away and involve myself with the investigation of ideas... and this led me to painting.”
Sedgley married Marguerite Erica Wiltshire in 1951. They had two children. They divorced and he married Ingeborg Lommatzsch in 1996. Sedgley died on 17 March 2025.
Sedgley was "entirely self-taught" as an artist. He was initially influenced by Bridget Riley, Harry Thubron and Bruce Lacey. As his work progressed, he developed "a preference for circular forms."
Sedgley met Riley in 1961. Of his influence on her, she said "I did not know how to make a curve, even how to use a ruler, till I met Peter. I was still working on my kitchen table. He had to teach me geometry so that I could make the things I knew ought to be." In the mid-1960s Sedgley and Riley taught at Byam Shaw Art School, Kensington where one of his students was James Dyson. About Sedgley and Riley, Dyson said, "From them I learnt how to see and understand form, and ultimately how to draw it."
In 1966, the Canadian art dealer, Jack Pollock took some of Sedgley's pieces, together with ones by David Hockney, Richard Hamilton and Riley, to exhibit in his gallery in Canada, about which he wrote, "I realised that a show of this work in Canada could have a tremendous impression, not just on buyers, but on artists. I thought they would do very well to be able to see, absorb, really look at this inspiring new work. And they did – they learned a great deal."
On 5 March 1968, an event later described as an "action-happening", took place at the Tate Gallery. French sculptor César Baldaccini had been invited to create a work using quick-drying polyurethane foam as part of a presentation for Tate members. As the sculpture set, Sedgley and the performance artist Stuart Brisley removed sections of it, transported them to the gallery’s front entrance, impaled them on the railings, and set them on fire. They left the scene before the police arrived.
In the late 1960s, Sedgley became interested in the possibilities of using coloured light. This interest began accidentally while setting up lights for an evening exhibition. While trying to find a form of light which approximated most closely to daylight, he became aware of the varying effects of different lights on his targets. This experimentation led ultimately to Sedgley's creation of art using artificial light. His first work using electric light was a "light ballet", a moving light installation at Trinity College Dublin, and the Camden Arts Centre, London, in 1970.
Peter Sedgley
Peter Sedgley (19 March 1930 – 17 March 2025) was an English visual artist associated with Op art and Kinetic art. He co-founded SPACE, which is the oldest continuously operating art studio in London, and the Artist Information Registry (AIR) with Bridget Riley in 1968.
Peter Sedgley was born in London on 19 March 1930. His father was a railway engineer. He studied building and architecture at Brixton School of Building from 1943 to 1947. From 1948 to 1950 he completed national service with the Royal Army Ordnance Corps (RAOC) in Egypt. He worked as an architectural assistant from 1950 to 1958. In 1960 he set up a small design and construction firm making “prototype dwellings”. In 1963 he began to make art full-time. In 1968 he co-created SPACE with Bridget Riley and Peter Townsend. In a 1967 interview he said, “I wanted to concern myself with philosophy. I felt the need to get away and involve myself with the investigation of ideas... and this led me to painting.”
Sedgley married Marguerite Erica Wiltshire in 1951. They had two children. They divorced and he married Ingeborg Lommatzsch in 1996. Sedgley died on 17 March 2025.
Sedgley was "entirely self-taught" as an artist. He was initially influenced by Bridget Riley, Harry Thubron and Bruce Lacey. As his work progressed, he developed "a preference for circular forms."
Sedgley met Riley in 1961. Of his influence on her, she said "I did not know how to make a curve, even how to use a ruler, till I met Peter. I was still working on my kitchen table. He had to teach me geometry so that I could make the things I knew ought to be." In the mid-1960s Sedgley and Riley taught at Byam Shaw Art School, Kensington where one of his students was James Dyson. About Sedgley and Riley, Dyson said, "From them I learnt how to see and understand form, and ultimately how to draw it."
In 1966, the Canadian art dealer, Jack Pollock took some of Sedgley's pieces, together with ones by David Hockney, Richard Hamilton and Riley, to exhibit in his gallery in Canada, about which he wrote, "I realised that a show of this work in Canada could have a tremendous impression, not just on buyers, but on artists. I thought they would do very well to be able to see, absorb, really look at this inspiring new work. And they did – they learned a great deal."
On 5 March 1968, an event later described as an "action-happening", took place at the Tate Gallery. French sculptor César Baldaccini had been invited to create a work using quick-drying polyurethane foam as part of a presentation for Tate members. As the sculpture set, Sedgley and the performance artist Stuart Brisley removed sections of it, transported them to the gallery’s front entrance, impaled them on the railings, and set them on fire. They left the scene before the police arrived.
In the late 1960s, Sedgley became interested in the possibilities of using coloured light. This interest began accidentally while setting up lights for an evening exhibition. While trying to find a form of light which approximated most closely to daylight, he became aware of the varying effects of different lights on his targets. This experimentation led ultimately to Sedgley's creation of art using artificial light. His first work using electric light was a "light ballet", a moving light installation at Trinity College Dublin, and the Camden Arts Centre, London, in 1970.