Drawings And Digressions

by Larry Rivers (Painter)

Gathers drawings, including studies for major paintings, created by the author during the fifties, sixties, and seventies, and shares his comments on his art, influences, and life

264 pages, Hardcover

First published December 12, 1979

Reviews

[Jeff Crompton · Rating 5 out of 5]

I doubt that I've read all of the text of this book; I read some every time I pick it up, but it's unlikely that I've read all of it. The writing is fascinating, entertaining, touching, and scandalous. Rivers was the epitome of the artist as bohemian; he lived a casual, irregular life, took lots of drugs, had sex with women and men, and seemed to know every artist, musician, and painter of his time.

But the point of this book, of course, is Rivers' artwork. He was something of a chameleon, his work changing to reflect different currents in the art world. But it all ended up bearing his personal imprint - it all looks like the work of Larry Rivers, in spite of the changes he went through. I'm most fond of the portraits in which Rivers has drawn only part of the subject's face. What features are there are drawn fairly "realistically," but Rivers has including only just enough parts of the face to identify the subject. It's a striking approach to portraiture, and works wonderfully.

As the title suggests, most of the works included are drawings on paper (check out the portrait of Leonard Bernstein on music staff paper), but there are a few paintings and mixed media works included. This is a very rewarding art book - I find something new every time I pick it up.