Growing 1981 Larry Rivers -
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" (1976–1981) is a controversial video series by American artist Larry Rivers
that documented the physical development of his two adolescent daughters, Gwynne and Emma. Rivers, often cited as a "Godfather" of Pop Art, filmed the girls at six-month intervals over five years, focusing on their maturing bodies and specifically their breasts. Artistic and Personal Context Methodology:
Rivers interviewed his daughters about their feelings regarding their changing bodies, sometimes including their mother, Clarice, in the frames. Intent vs. Reception:
While Rivers described the project as a document of development for his daughters to look back on, it remained unexhibited during his lifetime. In later years, his daughter Emma Tamburlini condemned the work, describing it as child pornography and stating it contributed to her developing an eating disorder. Controversial Legacy:
The series is often cited as a prime example of Rivers' "taboo-busting" nature overstepping ethical boundaries. It gained significant media attention in 2010 when his daughters sought the return of the footage from New York University. Career Milestones in 1981
Aside from the completion of the "Growing" project, 1981 was a significant year for Rivers' established career: Bio - Larry Rivers Foundation
Larry Rivers was a pivotal figure in American art, often described by contemporaries like Andy Warhol as the bridge between Abstract Expressionism and Pop Art. While he is celebrated for his "unique personality" and draftsmanship, the specific keyword "Growing 1981" refers to one of the most controversial chapters of his career: a documentary film project titled Growing, completed in 1981, which remains a focal point of intense ethical debate. The Context of Growing (1976–1981)
Growing was a multi-year documentary project where Rivers filmed his two daughters, Gwynne and Emma, at six-month intervals starting when they were roughly 11 years old. The footage, spanning from 1976 to 1981, recorded their physical development during puberty. growing 1981 larry rivers
Rivers intended the 45-minute film to be an artistic exploration of human growth and a challenge to social taboos regarding the body. However, the methods he used—which included filming his daughters topless or naked and questioning them about their changing bodies—have been condemned by his children and critics alike. The 1981 Turning Point
In 1981, Rivers edited the five years of footage into a final version intended for public exhibition. This release was blocked by the girls' mother, Clarice Rivers, and the film was subsequently withheld from the public eye for decades.
The controversy resurfaced in 2010 when New York University (NYU) attempted to acquire the Larry Rivers Foundation archive. Upon learning of the film's contents and the lack of consent from the subjects, NYU returned the tapes to the Foundation. Emma Rivers Tamburlini has since characterized the work as child pornography and "a document of exploitation and abuse," leading to a movement to have the original tapes destroyed or permanently suppressed. Art Style and Wider Influence in 1981
Beyond the Growing controversy, 1981 was a significant year for Rivers' established career:
(1981) is a controversial video-series and subsequent large-scale painting created by American artist Larry Rivers
. The project is most notable for its explicit documentation of his teenage daughters' physical development through puberty, a work that has faced intense criticism and accusations of exploitation. The Video Series
Rivers filmed his daughters, Emma and Gwynne, at six-month intervals from 1976 to 1981.
: The footage shows the girls either naked or topless as Rivers asks them questions about their changing bodies and budding sexuality. Growing cannabis involves attention to detail, a good
: The project was edited in the early 1980s with screen credits, intended to play on a continuous loop during exhibitions of his paintings. Controversy
: One of the subjects, Emma Tamburlini, has publicly condemned the film, describing it as "child pornography" and stating that the process contributed to her developing anorexia as a teenager. The 1981 Painting
The video series served as direct source material for a large-scale painting Rivers completed in 1981. Composition
: The painting incorporates still images captured from the video footage.
: True to Rivers' signature style, the work likely features his "drippy, watercolor quality" and a blend of representational figures with abstract elements. Historical Context
: Rivers was known for "smashing sexual taboos," previously painting his aging ex-mother-in-law naked in Double Portrait of Berdie Current Status & Legacy
The project remains largely unexhibited due to its sensitive nature and family opposition. Archive Dispute : In 2010, New York University returned the "Growing" series to the Larry Rivers Foundation after learning of the daughters' objections. Preservation
: The Foundation continues to preserve the film, arguing it is essential "art in itself" and vital context for the 1981 painting, despite Emma's requests for the footage to be destroyed. Larry Rivers' other controversial family portraits or his role in the Larry Rivers Paintings, Bio, Ideas - The Art Story " (1976–1981) is a controversial video series by
It seems you're interested in information about Larry Rivers, an American artist known for his work in painting, sculpture, and other media, particularly in the context of his artistic development or specific works from around 1981. Larry Rivers (1925-2002) was a significant figure in American art, often associated with the Pop Art movement, although his work spanned a broad range of styles and themes.
If you're looking for information on Larry Rivers' work from 1981 or his artistic growth around that period, here are a few points to consider:
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.
Why this subject in 1981? By the late 70s, Rivers had experienced the death of his mother, the end of several turbulent relationships, and the looming shadow of middle age. Growing is a meditation on the cruel joke of biology: that to live is to age.
A plant "growing" is usually a sign of health. But Rivers’ plant looks exhausted. It is growing because it has no choice. The title is ironic. This is not a springtime daffodil; this is a late-summer weed that refuses to die.
Critics at the time noted that Growing felt like a visual argument with the poet Frank O'Hara (Rivers’ close friend and collaborator, who died in 1966). O’Hara’s poems are light, spontaneous, and joyous. Rivers’ Growing is heavy, labored, and anxious. It suggests that growth is not always upward; sometimes it is just expansion into emptiness.
To understand Growing, one must look at the artist’s timeline. By 1981, Rivers had survived the tumultuous 60s and 70s. He had moved away from the clean, appropriated imagery of his early Pop works toward a more complex, multi-paneled narrative style often referred to as "History Painting with a dirty mouth." He was also dealing with the recent death of friends (like poet Frank O’Hara) and the aging of his own body.
The year 1981 marked a cultural shift. The excesses of the 70s were giving way to the neoliberal conservatism of the Reagan/Thatcher era. In the art world, Neo-Expressionism (Basquiat, Schnabel) was beginning to roar. Rivers, always a step ahead, had already been doing a grittier, more emotionally raw form of figuration for decades. Growing was his response to the idea of "maturity" in a culture obsessed with youth.