Naples Yellow

Multi-talented artist Larry Rivers was born in the Bronx, NY in 1923. His parents were Ukrainian Jewish immigrants.

Rivers’ only formal artistic training took place at Hans Hofmann’s painting school in New York, where he studied for a year beginning in 1947. In 1951, Rivers received a BA in art education from New York University, the same year he completed his first major work “The Burial.”

The artist became known for his competent draftsmanship, sense of color, and use of complex views. Many of his works featured commercial images, such as cigarette packages. In 1965, he had his first retrospective at the Rose Art Museum in Waltham, MA.

In addition to painting, Rivers was a sculptor, printmaker, poet, and musician. He died in 2002.