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Larry Rivers (American, 1923-2002)
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Larry Rivers
Blue Collar Holiday 1990
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Biography |
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1923 |
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Born: Bronx, NY (Yitzroch Loiza Grossberg: August 17) |
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1940 |
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Changes name to Larry Rivers; begins career as a jazz saxophonist |
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1942 - 1944 |
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Serves in U.S. Army Air Corps.; medical discharge, 1943; attend Julliard School of Music, New York |
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1945 - 1948 |
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Commences painting in Maine; moves to Manhattan; studies painting at Abstract Expressionist, Hans Hofmann’s, school in New York and Provincetown, MA, 1947-1948; studies with Abstract Expressionist William Baziotes at New York University (B.A., 1951); meets Willem de Kooning |
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1949 |
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First solo exhibition at Jane Street Gallery, New York |
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1950 |
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Lives in Paris for eight months; returns to New York to paint full-time |
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1951 |
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Solo exhibition at Tibor de Nagy Gallery, New York, will exhibit annually (except 1955) through 1962; starts plaster sculpting; meets Jackson Pollock |
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1952 - 1953 |
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Designs set for poet and Museum of Modern Art curator, Frank O’Hara’s, play; moves to Southampton, New York |
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1954 - 1956 |
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One-man sculpture show at Stable Gallery, New York; Gloria Vanderbilt Foundation and Museum of Modern Art purchase Rivers, first in a museum collection; group exhibition at Corcoran Gallery, Washington, D.C.; participates in Sao Paulo Bienal, Brazil |
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1957 - 1960 |
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Works with O’Hara on lithograph series and poet, Kenneth Koch, on painting-poems; starts welded metal sculpting; travels to Paris |
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1961 - 1963 |
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Sets up studio in Paris; works with Kinetic artist, Jean Tinguely, joint project exhibited at Musee des Arts Decoratifs, Paris; Tate Gallery, London, buys a Rivers; solo exhibitions at Martha Jackson Gallery, New York, and Dwan Gallery, Los Angeles; European solo exhibitions at Gimpel Fils, London, and Galerie Rive Droite, Paris; commissioned to design New York Film Festival Billboard |
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1965 |
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First retrospective at Rose Art Museum, Brandeis University, MA, travels to Pasadena Art Museum, CA, The Detroit Institute of the Arts, and others |
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1966 - 1969 |
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New England Merchants National Bank of Boston and Smithhaven Mall, New York, commission murals; designs set for Igor Stravinsky’s Oedipus Rex; collaborates with French filmmaker, Pierre Gaisseau; travels in Europe and North Africa; group exhibition at Museum of Modern Art; starts using spray cans |
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1970 |
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De Menil Foundation, Houston, TX, commissions a Rivers, highest price for a commissioned work to date; solo exhibition at Art Institute of Chicago; first of many one-man shows at Marlborough Gallery, New York, will exhibit at gallery until 1999; begins experimenting with airbrush, acrylic paint, and videotape |
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1971 - 1975 |
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Travels to West Coast and teaches at University of California, Santa Barbara; collaborates with Kenneth Koch on video segments that are shown at Whitney Museum, New York; travels to Africa and collaborates on film with photographer Peter Beard; solo exhibition at Palais des Beaux-Arts, Brussels; group exhibition at Swedish Museum of Modern Art, Stockholm |
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1976 - 1978 |
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Hirshhorn Museum buys a Rivers; Union of Soviet Artists invites to Russia to give lecture series; solo exhibitions at Gimpel Fils, London, ACA Galleries, New York, and Robert Miller Gallery, New York; starts using color carbon |
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1980 - 1982 |
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Retrospective at Museo de Arte Contemporáneo, Caracas, Venezuela; traveling European retrospective organized by Kestner-Gesellschaft, Hannover, Germany; solo exhibitions at F.I.C.A., Paris, Marlborough Fine Art Ltd., London, and Studio Marconi, Milan; moves in with Russian painter Daria Deshuk |
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1983 - 1985 |
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Retrospective organized by Guild Hall Museum, East Hampton, New York, travels to Lowe Art Museum, Coral Gables, Florida; J.C. Penney, Philadelphia, commissions mural; New York solo exhibitions at The Jewish Museum and Kouros Gallery; one-man shows at Elaine Horwich Gallery, Phoenix, Arizona, Museum of the University of Pennsylvania, and Marlborough Fine Art Ltd., Tokyo |
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1986 - 1988 |
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Designs cover for The New York Times Magazine; BBC commissions a computer art project to be shown on U.S. television; Philadelphia Historical Society commissions a print; work featured in Artforum; solo exhibitions at Adelphi University Center, New Jersey, Jan Turner Gallery, Los Angeles, Simms Fine Art, New Orleans, Gibbes Art Gallery, Charleston, and Heland-Thorden-Wetterling Gallery, Stockholm, Sweden |
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1990 |
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Group exhibition at Brooklyn Museum of Art, New York |
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1999 |
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Final exhibition at Marlborough Gallery |
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2002 |
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Dies August 16, at home in Southampton; retrospective at Corcoran Gallery, Washington, D.C. |
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This American artist was born in New York City, in 1923, as Yitzroch Loisa Grossberg. He began his artistic career as a jazz saxophonist and changed his name to Larry Rivers. He turned to visual art in the 1940s. Responding to the Abstract Expressionists, Rivers explored figurative work as evidenced in a series of nude studies from 1954. He was an excellent draftsman inclined towards the culturally provocative. He was one of the first artists to include popular images in his paintings placing him at the forefront of the Pop Art movement. At the height of his career, the 1960s, he continued to paint the figure, often including elements of stenciled lettering and photography. His artistic contributions are marked by clever irony with subject matter, ranging from the erotic to social concerns, and are not confined to fine art alone. Rivers is also recognized as a stage set designer, musician, documentary filmmaker and University of California at Santa Barbara professor. The artist died in 2002. |
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Exhibitions |
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2007 |
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Wit and Whimsy, Marlborough Gallery, New York, NY March 6 - 31 |
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2007 |
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Sobre el Humor, Galeriá Marlborough, Madrid, Spain, June 28 - September |
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2006 |
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Summer Show, Marlborough Graphics, New York, NY |
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2006 |
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Summer Group Show, Marlborough Gallery, New York, NY, June 22 - September 5 |
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2005 |
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Marlborough Chelsea, New York, NY (solo) |
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2005 |
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Marlborough Gallery, New York, NY (solo) |
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2005 |
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Works on Paper, Marlborough Gallery, New York |
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2004 |
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Masterpieces from the Guggenheim Collection: From Renoir to Warhol, Bunkamura Museum of Art, Tokyo, Japan, 2004 |
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2002 |
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The Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. (solo) |
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2001 |
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Fashion Show, Lord and Taylor, NY and Marlborough Monte-Carlo (solo) |
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2000 |
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On Paper, Marlborough Gallery, New York, NY |
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2000 |
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Paintings, Marlborough Gallery, NY and Marlborough Monte-Carlo |
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1999 |
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Larry Rivers - Pastels, Manolo Valdés - Paintings, Fondation Veranneman, Kruishoutem, Belgium |
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1999 |
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In Memory of My Feelings: Frank O’Hara and American Art, The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, California |
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1999 |
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Fashion Show, Marlborough Gallery, New York, NY (solo) |
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1998 |
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Forma y Figuración: obras maestras de la colección Blake-Purnell, Museo Guggenheim Bilbao, Spain |
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1998 |
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Coming Off the Wall, The Susquehanna Art Museum, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. |
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1997 |
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Marlborough Gallery, New York, NY (solo) |
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1994 |
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Marlborough Gallery, New York, NY (solo) |
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1993 |
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Galería Marlborough, Madrid, Spain (solo) |
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1992 |
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Nassau County Museum of Art, Roslyn Harbor, NY (solo) |
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1991 |
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Galería Antonio Machón, Madrid, Spain (solo) |
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1990 |
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Galerie Beaubourg, Paris, France (solo) |
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1988 |
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Spoleto Festival U.S.A., Gibbes Art Gallery, Charleston, SC (solo) |
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1987 |
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Simms Fine Art, New Orleans, LA (solo) |
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1986 |
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Adelphi University Center, Garden City, NY (solo) |
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1985 |
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Museum of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA (solo) |
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1984 |
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Kouros Gallery, New York, NY (solo) |
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1983 |
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Elaine Horwich Gallery, Phoenix, AZ (solo) |
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1982 |
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Studio Marconi, Milan, Italy (solo) |
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1981 |
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Galerie Biedermann Munich, Germany (solo) |
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1979 |
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Marlborough Gallery, New York, NY (solo) |
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1977 |
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Robert Miller Gallery, New York, NY (solo) |
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