Larry Rivers retrospective at Marlborough galleries reveals artist's shift from serious painting to pop artifice

Marlborough Gallery presented a Larry Rivers exhibition spanning 1951-2001 at both its uptown and Chelsea locations through June 4, 2005. Born Yitzak Loiza Grossberg in the Bronx to Ukrainian immigrants, Rivers began as a jazz saxophonist before turning to painting in 1945 after meeting Jane Freilicher. He studied with Hans Hofmann and gained early recognition with a 1949 show at the Jane Street cooperative praised by Clement Greenberg. The exhibition featured portrait drawings from the 1950s like "Head of a Woman" (1957) alongside later pop-influenced works, though notable early paintings such as "Double Portrait of Berdie" (1955) and "The History of the Russian Revolution" (1965) were absent. By the mid-1950s, Rivers gravitated toward pop sensibilities, creating works like "Dutch Masters Silver" (1969) and fashion-inspired paintings from the 1990s-2000s that recycled magazine imagery. His career reflected a broader cultural shift where artistic seriousness gave way to camp detachment and commercial glamor, influenced by contemporaries like Robert Rauschenberg and Andy Warhol. The Chelsea location displayed his final works, including "Fashion Seated" (2001) and "Thigh High Fishnets" (2000), which revisited 1960s fashion aesthetics. Rivers' collaboration with poet Frank O'Hara exemplified his alignment with an aesthetic that prioritized attitude over lasting achievement.