Rivers, Larry (1923-2002), was an American painter. Beginning in the early 1950’s, Rivers chose American symbols as his subjects. They were either historical themes or images of commercial products, such as cigarette packages. Rivers’s deliberately unidealistic works have an amusing, ironical nature. With his introduction of popular imagery as subjects, he is often considered a forerunner of the Pop Art movement (see Pop Art ).
Rivers’s subjects emerge from loosely painted backgrounds with visible brushstrokes or sometimes bare canvas. Many paintings have an appearance of rapid execution and fragmentation, almost as if they were unfinished. Some works show parts of the same figure from several points of view. Rivers was born on Aug. 17, 1923, in New York City. His real name was Yitzroch Loiza Grossberg. He died on Aug. 14, 2002.
