1981 Larry Rivers [2021]: Growing

A Review of Larry Rivers’ Growing (1981)

Larry Rivers, Growing (1981)
Oil and charcoal on canvas, approx. 72 x 80 in.

Beginning in 1976, Rivers set out to document the physical and psychological changes of his two adolescent daughters, Gwynne and Emma, as they navigated puberty. Twice a year for five years, he filmed them at his home, often asking them to appear topless or entirely naked. The Outcome of the Project

The daughters have spent years seeking the return of the footage to ensure it is never made public, while the Foundation initially sought to keep the materials restricted during the daughters' lifetimes rather than destroying them. growing 1981 larry rivers

Return of Materials: In 2010, following a request from one of Rivers' daughters, New York University (which held the artist's archives) agreed to return the "Growing" films and videos to the family.

Growing (1981) — Larry Rivers

Larry Rivers’s 1981 painting Growing is a compact but revealing work that encapsulates many of the artist’s late-career interests: the compression of autobiography and art history, the interplay of figuration and abstraction, and a wry engagement with American popular culture. Below is a focused, structured essay that situates the painting historically, analyzes its form and content, and assesses its significance within Rivers’s oeuvre and late 20th‑century American art. A Review of Larry Rivers’ Growing (1981) Larry

Look closely at the brushwork. In the 1950s, Rivers had a lush, almost de Kooning-esque touch. By 1981, that touch has turned aggressive and dry. There are sections of Growing where the paint seems scraped off rather than applied. There are areas of raw, unpainted canvas—gaps in the "growth." This formal decision suggests that growing is not a smooth process; it is full of holes, erasures, and false starts.

Subject and Composition

• Late-Career Mastery: While Rivers’ 1950s and 60s work fetches the highest auction prices, Growing represents his philosophical peak. It is the work of a man no longer trying to shock, but to understand.
• Precursor to 80s Figuration: Before Eric Fischl painted the uncomfortable suburbs, or David Salle layered discordant images, Larry Rivers was already deconstructing the self. Growing is a bridge between the confessional poetry of the Beats and the cynical image-scramble of the Pictures Generation.
• The Body as Landscape: Unlike Warhol’s cold, mechanical repetition, Rivers’ body in Growing is warm, leaky, and embarrassingly human. It is a counterpoint to the airbrushed fitness culture of the early 80s (Jane Fonda, Richard Simmons). Rivers’ body does not grow stronger; it grows stranger.

Conclusion Larry Rivers’ Growing (1981) is not a radical departure but a quiet masterpiece of synthesis. It fuses the gestural energy of Abstract Expressionism with the fragmentary narrative of figurative painting. Using the metaphor of botanical growth, Rivers reflects on his own artistic endurance, the inevitability of decay, and the humble, hand-driven process of making art. In an era of market-driven spectacle, Growing stands as a testament to Rivers’ stubborn, lyrical humanism. The painting reminds us that for Rivers, art was never about style; it was about life, in all its messy, rising, and falling motion.