Collection: Larry Rivers

(1923-2002) American

Rivers was an American artist, musician, and filmmaker out of New York. His work largely fused the lively mark-making of Abstract Expressionism with the commercial images of advertising. He studied with Hans Hofmann in the late 1940s, choosing to apply his skill in draftsmanship to works depicting naturalistic subject matter with loose, flowing brushstrokes. By the 1970s, Rivers was using airbrushing, stenciling, printmaking, and assemblage in his artwork, soon becoming an integral member of the Chelsea Hotel scene and frequent guest of Warhol’s Factory. Often viewed as a precursor to Pop Art, Rivers’ paintings coupled with his ironic attitude towards his own and others’ artwork signified a break from his peers and a more serious nature reminiscent of the Abstract Expressionist painters the preceded him. In the same year as his death, he was given a major retrospective at the Corcoran Gallery of Art in DC in 2002.