Larry Rivers
Larry Rivers | |
|---|---|
 Rivers in 1961 | |
| Born | Yitzroch Loiza Grossberg August 17, 1923 New York City, U.S. |
| Died | August 14, 2002(aged 78) |
| Education | Hans HofmannSchool |
| Known for | Painting,sculpture |
| Movement | East Coastfigurative painting,new realism,pop art |
| Spouses | |
Larry Rivers(bornYitzroch Loiza Grossberg;August 17, 1923 – August 14, 2002) was an American artist, musician, filmmaker, and occasional actor.[1]Considered by many scholars to be the "Godfather" and "Grandfather" ofPop art,he was one of the first artists to merge non-objective, non-narrative art with narrative and objective abstraction.[1][3]
Career
[edit]
Larry Rivers was born as Yitzroch Loiza Grossberg in theBronx, New York,in the family of Jewish immigrants from Ukraine.[4]Rivers took up painting in 1945 and studied at theHans HofmannSchool from 1947 through 1948.[5]He earned a BA in art education fromNew York Universityin 1951.[5]
His work was quickly acquired by theMuseum of Modern Art.A 1953 paintingWashington Crossing the Delawarewas damaged in fire at the museum five years later.[6]
He was apop artistof theNew York School,reproducing everyday objects of American popular culture as art. He was one of eleven New York artists featured in the opening exhibition at theTerrain Galleryin 1955.
He has been contextualised as working out of theAbstract expressionistlegacy ofWillem de Kooning,"adapting the freedom of the Abstract Expressionist technique towards figurative ends."[7]
During the early 1960s Rivers lived inManhattan'sHotel Chelsea,notable for its artistic residents such asBob Dylan,Janis Joplin,Leonard Cohen,Arthur C. Clarke,Dylan Thomas,Sid Viciousand multiple people associated withAndy Warhol's Factory and where he brought several of his Frenchnouveau réalistesfriends likeYves Kleinwho wrote there in April 1961 hisManifeste de l'hôtel Chelsea,Arman,Martial Raysse,Jean Tinguely,Niki de Saint-Phalle,Christo,Daniel SpoerriorAlain Jacquet,several of whom, like Rivers, left some pieces of art in the lobby of the hotel for payment of their rooms. In 1965, Rivers had his first comprehensive retrospective in five important American museums.[citation needed]
His final work for the exhibition wasThe History of theRussian Revolution,which was later on extended permanent display at theHirshhorn Museum and Sculpture GardeninWashington, DC.He spent 1967 in London collaborating with the American painterHoward Kanovitz.[citation needed]
In 1967, Rivers traveled to Africa for a second time withPierre Dominique Gaisseauto finish their documentaryAfrica and I,which was a part of the groundbreakingNBCseriesExperiments in Television.During this trip they narrowly escaped execution as suspected mercenaries.[7]
During the 1970s, Rivers worked closely with Diana Molinari andMichel Auderon many video tape projects, including the infamousTits,and also worked inneon.[8]
Rivers's legs appeared inJohn LennonandYoko Ono's 1971 filmUp Your Legs Forever.[9]
In 1971, he curatedSome American Historyat the Institute for the Arts atRice Universityin Houston, where his own work was exhibited alongside that of Ellsworth Ausby, Peter Bradley,Frank Bowling,Daniel LaRue Johnson, Joe Overstreet, and William T. Williams.[10]
Music
[edit]Between 1940 and 1945, he worked as a jazz saxophonist inNew York City;he changed his name to Larry Rivers in 1940 after being introduced as "Larry Rivers and the Mudcats".[11]He studied at theJuilliard School of Musicin 1945–46, along withMiles Davis,with whom he remained friends until Davis's death in 1991.[citation needed]
Personal life
[edit]Larry Rivers was born in the Bronx to Samuel and Sonya Grossberg, Jewish immigrants from Ukraine.[5]He changed his name to Rivers in 1940 at the start of his career as jazz saxophonist.[7]
In 1945, he married Augusta Berger, and they had one son, Steven.[1]Rivers also adopted Joseph, Berger's son from a previous relationship, and reared both children after the couple divorced.[1]He lived with his mother-in-law, Berdie Burger, who was a favorite model of his, in Southampton, Long Island, from 1953 through 1957.[7]
In 1961, he married Clarice Price, a Welsh school teacher, who cared for his two sons.[11]The couple had two daughters together, Gwynne and Emma, but the relationship lasted only six years before Larry and Clarice separated.[11][12]
Shortly after, he lived and collaborated with Diana Molinari, who featured in many of his works of the 1970s.[citation needed]
Rivers then lived with Sheila Lanham, a Baltimore artist and poet.[citation needed]
In the early 1980s, Rivers and East Village figurative painter Daria Deshuk (1956–2017) lived together and, in 1985, they produced a son, Sam Deshuk Rivers. They remained good friends until Rivers's death.[13]
Rivers also maintained a relationship with poetFrank O'Harain the late 1950s and delivered the eulogy at O'Hara's funeral, in 1966.[14][15]
Throughout his career, the artist maintained studios inNew York City;Southampton, Long Island;andZihuatanejo, Mexico.[citation needed]
Rivers died in 2002, leaving behind his five children and then companion, poet Jeni Olin.[12]
Legacy
[edit]His primary gallery was the Marlborough Gallery in New York City. In 2002, a major retrospective of Rivers's work was held at theCorcoran Gallery of Artin Washington, D.C.New York Universitybought correspondences and other documents from theLarry Rivers Foundationto house in their archive.[16]However, his daughters Gwynne and Emma objected to one particular film being displayed, as it depicts them naked as children and adolescents. The film's purpose is supposedly the documentation of their growth throughpuberty,but it was made when they were not consenting adults.[12]The matter was addressed in the December 2010 issue of the magazineVanity Fair,[12]and the October 2010 issue ofGrazia.[citation needed]The film will never be publicly displayed as requested by both children.[citation needed]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^abcdeKimmelman, Michael (August 16, 2002)."Larry Rivers, Artist With an Edge, Dies at 78".New York Times.RetrievedMay 31,2013.
- ^Smith, Patrick S.Scribner Encyclopedia of American Lives, Thematic Series: The 1960s.Rivers, Larry.Retrieved20 June2021.
- ^Rose, Barbara (November 2002)."Barbara Rose on Larry Rivers".Artforum.
- ^"Larry Rivers".Retrieved12 August2022.
- ^abc"Biography".Larry Rivers Foundation.RetrievedMay 31,2013.
- ^"Permanent Revolution".New York magazine.September 10, 2012.
- ^abcdEmmanuel, Muriel (1983).Contemporary Artists(2nd ed.). London: Macmillan. pp. 785, 787.
- ^J.D. Reed (June 10, 1985)."The Canvas is the Night: Once a Visual Vagrant, Neon Has a Stylish New Glow".Time magazine.Archived fromthe originalon July 23, 2009.
Neonis the strongest, most direct form of illustration, "argued Artist Larry Rivers in Rudi Stern's 1979 bookLet There Be Neon."And the canvas is the night.
- ^Jonathan Cott (16 July 2013).Days That I'll Remember: Spending Time With John Lennon & Yoko Ono.Omnibus Press. p. 74.ISBN978-1-78323-048-8.
- ^"Some American History - catalogue".Diaspora Artist.2014.Retrieved6 November2023.
- ^abcMcNay, Michael (August 17, 2002)."Larry Rivers: Rabelaisian American painter whose impressionistic and witty work predated pop art".The Guardian.London.RetrievedMay 31,2013.
- ^abcdShnayerson, Michael (November 3, 2010)."Crimes of the Art?".Vanity Fair.Retrieved2022-11-21.
- ^"Daria Deshuk, Artist | The East Hampton Star".The East Hampton Star.Retrieved2 June2023.
- ^Johnson, Ken (15 August 2008)."Portraits Shockingly Intimate a Half-Century Ago Now Assume a Softer Patina".The New York Times.Retrieved2 June2023.
- ^Sheehan, Dan (27 July 2020)."Remembering Frank O'Hara's funeral".Literary Hub.Retrieved2 June2023.
- ^Taylor, Kate (July 7, 2010)."Artist's Daughter Wants Videos Back".New York Times.Retrieved2010-07-07.
Further reading
[edit]- Baskind, Samantha,Jewish Artists and the Bible in Twentieth-Century America,Philadelphia, PA, Penn State University Press, 2014,ISBN978-0-271-05983-9
- Marika Herskovic,New York School Abstract Expressionists Artists Choice by Artists,(New York School Press, 2000.)ISBN0-9677994-0-6.p. 8; p. 32; p. 38; p. 310–313
External links
[edit]| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Academics | |
| Artists | |
| People | |
| Other | |
- 1923 births
- 2002 deaths
- Jewish American painters
- American pop artists
- Artists from Manhattan
- Artists from the Bronx
- 20th-century American painters
- American male painters
- Bisexual artists
- 20th-century American printmakers
- American expatriates in Mexico
- 20th-century American Jews
- 21st-century American Jews
- 20th-century American LGBTQ people
- 20th-century American male artists