Rivers, Larry, 1923–2002, American artist, b. New York City as Yitzroch Loisa Grossberg. Originally a jazz saxophonist, he turned to art in the 1940s. Reacting against abstract expressionism abstract expressionism, movement of abstract painting that emerged in New York City during the mid-1940s and attained singular prominence in American art in the following decade; also called action painting and the New York school.
..... Click the link for more information. , Rivers turned to the figure, as in his 1954 series of nude studies, including Double Portrait of Birdie. An excellent draftsman, a multimedia experimenter, and a cultural provocateur, he was among the first to use popular images in his paintings and was thus a forerunner of the pop art pop art, a movement that first emerged in Great Britain at the end of the 1950s as a reaction against the seriousness of abstract expressionism . British and American pop artists employed a common imagery found in comic strips, soup cans, and Coke bottles to express
..... Click the link for more information. movement. Rivers reached the height of his powers in the mid-1960s and continued to paint in a figurative style, often incorporating into his work stenciled lettering, photographs, and other elements. His themes range from eroticism to social concern, and his canvases are painted in a lively and seemingly spontaneous manner, usually with a cleverly ironic edge.

Bibliography

See his autobiography (1992); study by S. Hunter (1969).

Rivers, Larry

orig. Yitzroch Loiza Grossberg

(born Aug. 17, 1923, New York, N.Y., U.S.—died Aug. 14, 2002, Southampton, N.Y.) U.S. painter associated with Abstract Expressionism and Pop art. He studied at the Juilliard School in New York City and was a professional jazz saxophonist before turning to painting and studying with Hans Hofmann. His early works are characterized by frequent use of complex, fragmentary, and multiple views; perhaps the best-known is the harshly realistic Double Portrait of Berdie (1955). From the 1960s he introduced commercial images into his work, as well as elements of collage, construction, and sculpture; an elaborate example of his mixed-media works is The History of the Russian Revolution (1965).

Rivers, Larry (b. Larry Grossberg) (1923– ) painter, sculptor; born in New York. A professional musician, he studied at the Julliard School of Music (1944–45) before studying art with Hans Hofmann (1947–48). He traveled widely, but was based in Southampton, Long Island from 1953. A teacher at many schools, he is known for ironic historical works, such as Washington Crossing the Delaware (1953), and realistic paintings, such as Double Portrait of Birdie (1955). He also worked as a sculptor, specializing in figure studies. An abstract expressionist as well as a predecessor of pop art, he is respected for his versatility as an artist.