The greater part of the prisoners who did not understand German...died during the first ten to fifteen days after their arrival: at first glance, from hunger, cold, fatigue and disease; but after a more attentive examination, due to insufficient information. If they had been able to communicate with their more experienced companions, they would have been able to orient themselves better....Except for cases of pathological incapacity, one can and must communicate, and thereby contribute in a useful and easy way to the peace of others and oneself, because silence, the absence of signals, is itself a signal, but an ambiguous one, and ambiguity generates anxiety and suspicion. To say that it is impossible to communicate is false; one always can.
from Primo Levi, The Drowned and the Saved
Larry Rivers has done occasional paintings as responses to reading Primo Levi and seeing Nazi photographs of Jews awaiting selection at Auschwitz-Birkenau. Several paintings were done as commissions. The Holocaust is not a major part of Rivers' oeuvre. The Holocaust well fits Rivers' larger themes that have dealt with political questions of other groups and how memory is made and revised.
from Stephen Feinstein, Witness and Legacy
Photographs of Larry Rivers:
Biographies and Chronologies:Water Mill, NY, 1962. The Artist Observed: Photographs and Narration by John Gruen. [Ann Chwatsky, photographer] Larry Rivers with Daria Deshek. Alex Katz opening at Marlborough Gallery, Wednesday, April 17, 1996. David Amram, Allen Ginsberg, Gregory Corso, Larry Rivers and Jack Kerouac, New York City, 1959. John Cohen, photographer. Gregory Corso, Peter Orlovsky, Allen Ginsberg and Larry Rivers in Alfred Leslie's studio NYC, 1959. John Cohen, photographer.
biography.comExhibitions:
WWW Pop Art
Chronology: 1925-1987
art in context: Galleries and Dealers, MuseumsPoems about Larry Rivers:
art in context: Selected Exhibitions
One-Man Exhibitions: 1949-1988
Media:Allen Ginsberg. Fourth Floor, Dawn, Up All Night Writing Letters. Frank O'Hara. On Seeing Larry Rivers' "Washington Crossing the Delaware" at the Museum of Modern Art. Frank O'Hara. To Larry Rivers.
Student Writings:[cover art for Jim Carroll's Living at the Movies]. [poster]. 35th New York Film Festival. Bald Eagle George and Part of the Constitution, 1987. Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco. (Also part of the Museums' Art of the Americas Cultural Crosscurrents online tour.) Back to Back I, 1986. Minoru Uchida, Larry Rivers. Bike Girls, 1958. The University of Michigan Museum of Art. Blue Collar Holiday. Eckert Fine Art Galleries. Boucher's Punishment, 1981. Minoru Uchida, Larry Rivers. Buick Painting with P, 1961. Minoru Uchida, Larry Rivers. The Burial, 1952. Minoru Uchida, Larry Rivers. Celebrating Shakespeare's 400th Birthday (Titus Andronicus), 1963. Andrew Tong, Horror, Fantasy, and the Grotesque in Art. Dancer in an Abstract Field: Fred Leaping II, 1987. Art in Embassies Program, US State Department. Diana, 1970-1974. West Tennessee Regional Art Center. Diana With Poem, 1970-1974. Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco. Diane Raised I, 1970. Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco. Diane Raised II, 1970-1971. Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco. Diane Raised III, 1971. Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco. Diane Raised IV (Polish Vocabulary), 1970-1974. Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco. Dick Schwartz, Umber Blues, 1987. Minoru Uchida, Larry Rivers. Double Portrait of Berdie, 1955. Minoru Uchida, Larry Rivers. Drummer, 1960. Kress Foundation Department of the History of Art, University of Kansas. Dutch Masters and Cigars II, 1963. Minoru Uchida, Larry Rivers. 15 Years, 1965. Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco. Friendship of America and France (Kennedy and DeGaulle), 1961-1962. Minoru Uchida, Larry Rivers. Garbo Grossman, 1983. Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco. Studio Interior, 1974. Minoru Uchida, Larry Rivers. Last Civil War Veteran, 1960. Old Glory: The American Flag In Contemporary Art, Phoenix Art Museum. Lisa Stroud, 1978. Galierie Biedermann. Madama Butterfly, fifth of a portfolio of eight Metropolitan Opera Fine Arts Posters, 20th century. Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco. May Opening/ National Collection of Fine Art/Smithsonian..., 1968. Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco. Molly (Girl on a Couch), 1957. Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco. The Napoleon Figure, 2nd Greatest Homosexual, 1965. 1998 Seventh Regiment Armory Art Show. Parts of the Body, 1961. Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Caracas Sofía Imber. Parts of the Face: French Vocabulary Lesson, 1961. Minoru Uchida, Larry Rivers. Portrait of Frank O'Hara, 1953. Minoru Uchida, Larry Rivers. Primo Levi I, 1988. Minoru Uchida, Larry Rivers. Relief from Berdie Photo, 1986. Minoru Uchida, Larry Rivers. Screenprint from The Boston Massacre Series, 1970. University of Montana Museum of Fine Arts. Studio Interior, 1948. Minoru Uchida, Larry Rivers. Washington Crossing the Delaware, 1953. The Poet Speaks of Art, English@Emory. (includes Frank O'Hara's poem, On Seeing Larry Rivers' "Washington Crossing the Delaware" at the Museum of Modern Art)
Larry Rivers: Public and Private.
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PICTURES FROM THE EXHIBITION
Erasing the Past
Pencil and color pencil
on paper, 12 1/2" x 10 1/2"
1986. Collection of the Artist
Erasing the Past II
Pencil and color pencil
on paper, 12 1/2" x 10 1/2"
1986. Collection of the Artist
Primo Levi: Witness Drawing
Pencil and color pencil
on paper, 26 1/2" x 28 1/2"
1988. Collection of the Artist
