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This item WAS NOT SOLD. Auction date was 2003 May 15 @ 19:00UTC-05:00 : EST/CDT
LARRY RIVERS
(1923-2002)
THE FAMILY
signed and titled "'The Family' Rivers" on the reverse
oil on canvas
82 x 72 in. (208.3 x 182.9 cm)
painted 1954-1955
ESTIMATE: $120,000-180,000
PROVENANCE
Acquired directly from the artist by the current owner, 1972
EXHIBITED
LONDON, Tate Gallery (in collaboration with the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation), PAINTINGS AND SCULPTURES OF A DECADE: 1954-1964, April 22-June 28, 1964, p. 215, no. 266 (illustrated; First Edition)
WALTHAM, Brandeis University, The Rose Art Museum and NEW YORK, The Jewish Museum of Art, April 10-May 9, 1965, and September 23-October 31 (respectively), 1965 (The Jewish Museum), no. 5
EAST HAMPTON, Guild Hall Museum, LARRY RIVERS: PERFORMING FOR THE FAMILY, 1951-1981, July 23-September 11, 1983, p. 23, no. 10 (illustrated)
WASHINGTON, D.C., Corcoran Gallery of Art, LARRY RIVERS: ART AND THE ARTIST, 2002, pl. 8 (illustrated)
LITERATURE
G. Aherns and C. Haenlein, eds., LARRY RIVERS RETROSPEKTIVE: BILDER UND SKULPTUREN, HANNOVER, 1981, Vol. II, p. 124 (illustrated)
H.A. Harrison, LARRY RIVERS, NEW YORK, 1984, p. 57 (illustrated)
S. Hunter, LARRY RIVERS, NEW YORK, 1989, p. 60, pl. 3 (illustrated)
H. Koriat, LARRY RIVERS: BILDENDE KUNST IN BEZIEHUNG ZUR DICHTUNG FRANK O'HARA, FRANKFURT AM MAIN, 1990, p. 84 (titled "Berdie, Joseph and Steven")
L. Rivers and A. Weinstein, WHAT DID I DO?, NEW YORK, 1992, 8th color plate proceeding p. 182 (illustrated)
In The Family, Rivers posed his two undressed young sons with their fully clothed grandmother, in an obvious reference to Manet's Dejeuner sûr L'Herbe. Like Manet, he enjoyed the contrast of textures of exposed flesh and the clothed figure, and complications of decorative motifs in the unfinished background.
Sam Hunter, in Larry Rivers, published by Abrams in 1969, p.26; reprinted in Larry Rivers, published by Rizzoli in 1989, p. 25
In relation to the dominant interests of contemporary painting, the concern of the generation of painters a little older than myself and their followers, my work bears the stamp of a revolutionary, for these prevailing sentiments antagonize me and inspire me to do away with their effects. In relation to my own meanderings, disregarding what others do, feel or think, my work at moments seems an attempt to solidify my identity with the "great" painters. I can only hope to be original with what they have given me.
Larry Rivers, in a statement published in the catalogue of
"12 Americans," an exhibition at The Museum of Modern Art in 1956
Into this scene Larry came rather like a demented telephone. Nobody knew whether they wanted it in the library, the kitchen or the toilet, but it was electric. Nor did he. The single most important event in his artistic career was when de Kooning said his painting was like pressing your face into wet grass. From the whole jazz scene, which had gradually diminished to a mere recreation, Larry had emerged into the world of art with the sanction of one of his own gods, and indeed the only living one.
Frank O'Hara, in Larry Rivers: A Memoir, published in the catalogue of the Rivers retrospective at The Rose Art Museum, Brandeis University, and The Jewish Museum, New York, in 1965
Larry Rivers' The Family (1954-55) is one of a group of important paintings from the early and middle 1950s that Rivers created in response to iconic works of the 19th Century. This group includes Washington Crossing the Delaware (1953, MoMA), which relates to Emmanuel Leutze's painting of the same name, and two paintings inspired by paintings by Gustave Courbet, The Burial and The Studio (1951, Fort Wayne Museum of Art and 1956, The Minneapolis Institute of the Arts). The Family differs from these other works in its style: it has a fully developed, if highly idiosyncratic realism that relates to Rivers' most striking masterpiece from this time, Double Portrait of Berdie (1955, Whitney Museum of American Art).
The Family captures the Bohemian irregularity of Rivers' life. At the center of the painting is Bertha "Berdie" Berger, the mother of Rivers' first wife, Augusta, from whom he was then separated and later divorced. Berdie continued to live with Larry, as did Joseph, Augusta's son from a previous marriage, whom Rivers subsequently adopted, as well as Steven, Larry and Augusta's son. Berdie was much loved by members of Rivers' circle for her sweetness: having met her at one of Rivers' parties, Tennessee Williams returned the next day to continue their conversation. When she died, in 1957, it marked the end of an era in Rivers' career.
Auction Location:
United States
Previewing Details:
Saturday May 3, 2003 10am to 5pm, Sunday May 4, 2003 1pm to 5pm, Monday May 5, 2003 10am to 5pm, Tuesday May 6, 2003 10am to 5pm, Wednesday May 7, 2003 10am to 5pm, Thursday May 8, 2003 10am to 5pm, Friday May 9, 2003 10am to 5pm, Saturday May 10, 2003 10am to 5pm, Sunday May 11, 2003 1pm to 5pm, Monday May 12, 2003 10am to 5pm, Tuesday May 13, 2003 10am to 5pm, Wednesday May 14, 2003 10am to 5pm, Thursday May 15, 2003 10am to 2pm
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