Growing 1981 Larry Rivers ⇒

A Review of Larry Rivers’ Growing (1981)

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

is a 1981 documentary video project produced by Larry Rivers. Known for his eclectic career as a painter, jazz musician, and filmmaker, Rivers used this project to document his family life. The film is approximately 52 minutes long and is currently archived in collections such as the Media Burn Archive. 2. Subject Matter and Content

Lack of Consent: In recent years, his daughter Emma Tamburlini has publicly stated she felt extremely uncomfortable and did not consent to the filming. growing 1981 larry rivers

The Erotic Undertone: Rivers never hid his love of the human figure. In many versions of the Growing series from 1981, the base of the plant curls inward in a way that mimics torsos or embracing limbs. Rivers is using botany as a disguise to paint the one subject that obsessed him for 50 years: the awkward, vital, decaying human body.

1. Biographical Context

• Early Life and Career: Born Yitzroch Loiza Rivers on May 8, 1925, in New York City, Larry Rivers began his artistic career as a jazz saxophonist before transitioning to painting. His early work was influenced by abstract expressionism.
• Rise to Prominence: Rivers gained significant attention in the 1950s and 1960s with works that blended elements of pop art, abstract expressionism, and realism. His iconic painting "Washington Crossing the Delaware" (1957) is a seminal work that critiqued traditional American history painting through a Pop Art lens.

as part of its archive and returned the materials to the Foundation. Current Status: A Review of Larry Rivers’ Growing (1981) Larry

Continuing Debate: The work serves as a focal point in discussions about the ethics of "confessional art" and where the line should be drawn when family members are used as subjects.

The title is ironic and earnest in equal measure. Growing captures a moment of arrested expansion: tendrils reach outward, leaves overlap, yet the entire scene feels suspended between vigorous life and decay. A few lower leaves are daubed with brownish-yellow, as if spotted with age or disease. Rivers seems less interested in botanical accuracy than in using the plant as a metaphor for the artist’s own late-career productivity—persistent, messy, still reaching. Early Life and Career : Born Yitzroch Loiza

The film was the culmination of a five-year project beginning in the mid-1970s. During this time, Rivers filmed his adolescent daughters, Gwynne and Emma, every six months to document their physical development.