Updated: June 8, 2009, 3:24 pm

'Larry Rivers - 50s-60s' Opens To Welcomed Crowd At NY's Tibor de Nagy Gallery

By Edward Callaghan | 1 Comment

Izzy Rivers, Steve Rivers, Margaret Hochberg, Joe Rivers, and Stephanie Rivers at exhibition held at Tibor de Nagy Gallery. Photos by John Wegorzewski

New York - The opening on May 28 of an exhibition of early paintings and works on paper by the late Larry Rivers, the proto-pop painter of Southampton, at the prestigious Tibor de Nagy Gallery was both a family reunion for the extended Rivers family, many of whom are associated still with the East End, and a celebration of the renewal of an long-term career changing relationship with the gallery which now has new owners.

It is the first gallery exhibition to focus on the early decades of the artist's career since his death in 2002. It also marks the first exhibition presented by the gallery since it started to represent his estate in 2008. Moreover, it picks up a relationship begun over 50 years ago when in 1951 Tibor de Nagy gave Rivers his first solo exhibition at the fledgling gallery which was the first of 11 solo shows.

"French Money (Nero)," 1962, on loan from a private collection.

The massive works on view give testament that long before Andy Warhol, Rivers was including popular references in his paintings. The majority of works in the exhibition are on loan from private collections, and comprises important, large-scale paintings from his most memorable themes, including French Money, Vocabulary Lessons, Civil War Veterans, Camel cigarette packs, as well as portraits of his mother-in-law Berdie Burger, his then wife Augusta and the poet Frank O'Hara who was his lover for a brief time.

Starting with his earliest works from the 1950s, Rivers painted figuratively, at first spurning the fashionable abstract expressionism of his contemporaries and friends, Jackson Pollack and Willem de Kooning. Several of these life-size portraits were on display, including "Augusta" and "Frank O'Hara." Later he would incorporate the paint application and openness associated with abstract expressionism while remaining firmly representational with the image always visible.

Artist Ellen Adler sharing a story about Larry with Eric Brown.

Beginning with his famous painting "Washington Crossing the Delaware," the artist gained worldwide acclaim and went on to paint iconic historical subjects and significant events in American history. He continued to use images from popular clichés - especially ads, well-known popular paintings, foreign currency, family photos and photographs from mass media magazines.

Rivers presaged the Pop Art Movement.Rivers' work has been shown and collected throughout the world. His paintings are in all the most important museum collections including the Museum of Modern Art, The Metropolitan Museum of At, The Whitney Museum, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and the Guggenheim Museum. There have been a number of retrospectives of his body of work which included films at such institutions as The Jewish Museum, The Corcoran Gallery and Guild Hall in East Hampton.
Throughout the gallery, scores of his East End friends gathered in groups around the pictures, often remembering when he had done a certain picture on display. Ellen Adler, a long-time close friend remembered not only his talent but his generosity, "Larry created the first Stella Adler Awards that we give each year for outstanding achievement in the Arts."

Daria Deshuk who had a son with Rivers, Sambo Deshuk Rivers, was "thrilled to see the works back at Tibor de Nagy."

Standing near a portrait of Augusta, Larry's first wife, was his second wife Clarice Price, the mother of Gwynne and Emma Rivers, while just a few feet away were Joe and Steven Rivers, his sons by Augusta, as well as assorted grandchildren. A real Rivers homecoming!

Eric Brown and Andrew Arnot both whom had been with the gallery for many years before taking it over after Tibor de Nagy's death were delighted to see the great artist's earlier works on the walls of a gallery that had been his first major launching pad. Said Brown," It is just so wonderfully appropriate to host this exhibition and celebrate the beginning of our representation of Larry Rivers' estate".

The exhibition "Larry Rivers 50s 60s" will be on view at Tibor De Nagy Gallery, 724 Fifth Avenue from now through July 31. Call 212-262-5050 for hours and days of operation.

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