Larry Rivers

BORN YITZHOK LOIZA GROSSBERG
* 17TH AUGUST 1923 IN NEW YORK (USA)
† 14TH AUGUST 2002 IN NEW YORK (USA)

The American painter and musician Larry Rivers is a founding father of Pop Art and belongs to the artists of the New York School. He was a jazz saxophonist during the 1940s in New York and during this time he took on the name Larry Rivers. Between 1945 and 1946 he studied at the Julliard School of Music and also discovered an interest in visual art. Between 1947 and 1948 he studied painting at the Hans Hofmann School and subsequently at the New York University between 1949 and 1951. Rivers began with figurative compositions, but quickly changed to abstract expressionism. From the 1950s he also created sculptures. The use of mass produced articles such as banknotes, or packaging in his assemblages make him a forerunner of Pop Art. In the 1960s he expanded his work to include electric lighting and wood. In the 1970s he increasingly worked with the airbrush and explored the medium of video. Rivers’s work was shown at documenta 3, 4, and 6 and is represented in the most prominent collections and museums.