LARRY RIVERS

Painter, sculptor, poet, and musician Larry Rivers was an established figure in the New York School recognized for creating large paintings merging abstract and narrative elements, as in Washington Crossing the Delaware(1953), where the general leads his men through a space defined by murky oil washes and broad gestural brushwork.

Rivers studied in the late 1940s under Hans Hofmann, the artist often regarded as the grandfather of Abstract Expressionism, but he never abandoned figuration, his compositions often including human subjects and text, as in Vocabulary Lesson (Polish) 1964. Rivers’ work is often compared to that of postmodern artists Jasper Johns and Robert Rauschenberg, and is considered an important precursor to Pop Arts, Andy Warhol once said, “Larry’s painting style was unique—it wasn’t Abstract Expressionism and it wasn’t Pop, it fell into the period in between. But his personality was very Pop.”

Rivers’ keen draftsmanship and interest in history is ever present in his expansive nonlinear oeuvre. Larry Rivers is considered by many to be the 'Godfather' of Pop Art, because he was one of the first artists to merge the non-figurative style of Abstract Expressionism with figurative motifs and icons, many of them plucked from pop culture. Rivers's canvases included symbols and logos borrowed from sources such as Camel Cigarette packets, Confederate flags, and Dutch Masters cigars - which, in an ironic twist, included a version of Rembrandt's Board Of The Drapers Guild on their packets. But he playfully denied any interest in reflecting on mass culture through his work. In his obituary, he was quoted as saying: "I have a bad arm, and am not interested in the art of holding up mirrors.”
Rivers’ keen draftsmanship and interest in history is ever present in his expansive nonlinear oeuvre. He had studios in New York City and South Hampton and continued several projects, including works concentrating on fashion, up until his death in 2002. He was 79 years old.

His work is in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and the National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C.