Timeline

1923

Born in Yitzroch Loiza Grossberg in the Bronx, USA

1940

Changed name to Larry Rivers; began career as a jazz saxophonist

1942 - 1944

Served in U.S. Army Air Corps.; medical discharge, 1943; attended Julliard School of Music, New York, USA

1945 - 1948

Commenced painting in Maine; moved to Manhattan; studied painting at Abstract Expressionist, Hans Hofmann’s, school in New York and Provincetown, 1947-1948; studied with Abstract Expressionist William Baziotes at New York University (B.A., 1951); met Willem de Kooning

1949

First solo exhibition at Jane Street Gallery, New York, USA

1950

Lived in Paris, France for eight months; returned to New York to paint full-time

1951

Solo exhibition at Tibor de Nagy Gallery, New York, then exhibited annually (except 1955) through 1962; started plaster sculpting; met Jackson Pollock

1952 - 1953

Designed set for poet and Museum of Modern Art curator, Frank O’Hara’s, play; moved to Southampton, USA

1954 - 1956

One-man sculpture show at Stable Gallery, New York; Gloria Vanderbilt Foundation and Museum of Modern Art purchased Rivers, first in a museum collection; group exhibition at Corcoran Gallery, Washington, D.C.; participated in Sao Paulo Bienal, Brazil

1957 - 1960

Worked with O’Hara on lithograph series and poet, Kenneth Koch, on painting-poems; started welded metal sculpting; traveled to Paris

1961 - 1963

Set up studio in Paris; worked with Kinetic artist, Jean Tinguely, joint project exhibited at Musée des Arts Decoratifs, Paris, France; Tate Gallery, London, England bought a Rivers; solo exhibitions at Martha Jackson Gallery, New York, and Dwan Gallery, Los Angeles; European solo exhibitions at Gimpel Fils, London, and Galerie Rive Droite, Paris; commissioned to design New York Film Festival Billboard

1965

First retrospective at Rose Art Museum, Brandeis University, Waltham, USA, traveled to Pasadena Art Museum, Detroit Institute of the Arts, and others

1966 - 1969

New England Merchants National Bank of Boston and Smithhaven Mall, New York, commissioned murals; designed set for Igor Stravinsky’s Oedipus Rex; collaborated with French filmmaker, Pierre Gaisseau; traveled in Europe and North Africa; group exhibition at Museum of Modern Art; started using spray cans

1970

De Menil Foundation, Houston, commissioned a Rivers, highest price for a commissioned work to date; solo exhibition at Art Institute of Chicago; first of many one-man shows at Marlborough Gallery, New York, then exhibited at gallery until 1999; began experimenting with airbrush, acrylic paint, and videotape

1971 - 1975

Traveled to West Coast and taught at University of California, Santa Barbara; collaborated with Kenneth Koch on video segments that are shown at Whitney Museum, New York; traveled to Africa and collaborated on film with photographer Peter Beard

1976 - 1978

Hirshhorn Museum bought a Rivers; Union of Soviet Artists invited to Russia to give lecture series; solo exhibitions at Gimpel Fils, London, ACA Galleries, New York, and Robert Miller Gallery, New York; started using color carbon

1980 - 1982

Retrospective at Museo de Arte Contemporáneo, Caracas, Venezuela; traveling European retrospective organized by Kestner-Gesellschaft, Hannover, Germany; moved in with Russian painter Daria Deshuk

1983 - 1985

Retrospective organized by Guild Hall Museum, East Hampton, New York, traveled to Lowe Art Museum, Coral Gables, Florida; J.C. Penney, Philadelphia, commissioned mural; New York solo exhibitions at Jewish Museum and Kouros Gallery; one-man shows at Elaine Horwich Gallery, Phoenix, Museum of the University of Pennsylvania, and Marlborough Fine Art Ltd., Tokyo, Japan

1986 - 1988

Designed cover for The New York Times Magazine; BBC commissioned a computer art project to be shown on U.S. television; Philadelphia Historical Society commissioned a print; work featured in Artforum

1990

Group exhibition at Brooklyn Museum of Art, New York

1999

Final exhibition at Marlborough Gallery

2002

Died in Southampton, USA; retrospective at Corcoran Gallery, Washington, D.C.