Rieser studied at the Atelier 17 in Paris with British surrealist painter and printmaker Stanley William Hayter (1901–88) and Polish engraver Józef Hecht (1891–1951).
The signature of the workshop was its democratic structure, breaking with the traditional hierarchic French engraving studios by insisting on a cooperative approach to labour and technical discoveries.
Spender's poem was both in English and with a French translation by Louis Aragon, was accompanied by a group of etchings by Kandinsky, Miro, Hayter, Hecht, Buckland-Wright, Husband, Mead, Rieser and Varas.
He moved to England to join the war effort in 1940, and in 1945, newly married, he settled back to civilian life, lecturing in biology, liberal studies and art, while also giving private lessons in printmaking.
He took part in group shows widely throughout Europe and America, including Peggy Guggenheim's Gallery, 1939; Atelier 17 in New York City and San Francisco, 1954.