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LARRY RIVERS (1923-2002)

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Larry Rivers, known for blending elements of pop culture with historical themes that explore the complexities of American identity, memory, and the passage of time, had a notable fascination with the Civil War. The Last Civil War Veteran series began in 1959 at the height of the Civil Rights Era, taken from a Life Magazine photograph of a man thought to be the last surviving veteran of that conflict. The veteran, bedridden and lying beneath emotionally charged Confederate and American flags, holds but an evanescent presence articulated in the barest of means. With a palette of rich, intense colors and dynamic, expressive brushwork, Rivers cleverly withholds finer details, leaving much of its essential narrative and character obscure while retaining an air of ambiguous uncertainty. Larry Rivers, known for blending elements of pop culture with historical themes that explore the complexities of American identity, memory, and the passage of time, had a notable fascination with the Civil War. The Last Civil War Veteran series began in 1959 at the height of the Civil Rights Era, taken from a Life Magazine photograph of a man thought to be the last surviving veteran of that conflict. The veteran, bedridden and lying beneath emotionally charged Confederate and American flags, holds but an evanescent presence articulated in the barest of means. With a palette of rich, intense colors and dynamic, expressive brushwork, Rivers cleverly withholds finer details, leaving much of its essential narrative and character obscure while retaining an air of ambiguous uncertainty. Larry Rivers, known for blending elements of pop culture with historical themes that explore the complexities of American identity, memory, and the passage of time, had a notable fascination with the Civil War. The Last Civil War Veteran series began in 1959 at the height of the Civil Rights Era, taken from a Life Magazine photograph of a man thought to be the last surviving veteran of that conflict. The veteran, bedridden and lying beneath emotionally charged Confederate and American flags, holds but an evanescent presence articulated in the barest of means. With a palette of rich, intense colors and dynamic, expressive brushwork, Rivers cleverly withholds finer details, leaving much of its essential narrative and character obscure while retaining an air of ambiguous uncertainty. Larry Rivers, known for blending elements of pop culture with historical themes that explore the complexities of American identity, memory, and the passage of time, had a notable fascination with the Civil War. The Last Civil War Veteran series began in 1959 at the height of the Civil Rights Era, taken from a Life Magazine photograph of a man thought to be the last surviving veteran of that conflict. The veteran, bedridden and lying beneath emotionally charged Confederate and American flags, holds but an evanescent presence articulated in the barest of means. With a palette of rich, intense colors and dynamic, expressive brushwork, Rivers cleverly withholds finer details, leaving much of its essential narrative and character obscure while retaining an air of ambiguous uncertainty. Larry Rivers, known for blending elements of pop culture with historical themes that explore the complexities of American identity, memory, and the passage of time, had a notable fascination with the Civil War. The Last Civil War Veteran series began in 1959 at the height of the Civil Rights Era, taken from a Life Magazine photograph of a man thought to be the last surviving veteran of that conflict. The veteran, bedridden and lying beneath emotionally charged Confederate and American flags, holds but an evanescent presence articulated in the barest of means. With a palette of rich, intense colors and dynamic, expressive brushwork, Rivers cleverly withholds finer details, leaving much of its essential narrative and character obscure while retaining an air of ambiguous uncertainty. Larry Rivers, known for blending elements of pop culture with historical themes that explore the complexities of American identity, memory, and the passage of time, had a notable fascination with the Civil War. The Last Civil War Veteran series began in 1959 at the height of the Civil Rights Era, taken from a Life Magazine photograph of a man thought to be the last surviving veteran of that conflict. The veteran, bedridden and lying beneath emotionally charged Confederate and American flags, holds but an evanescent presence articulated in the barest of means. With a palette of rich, intense colors and dynamic, expressive brushwork, Rivers cleverly withholds finer details, leaving much of its essential narrative and character obscure while retaining an air of ambiguous uncertainty. Larry Rivers, known for blending elements of pop culture with historical themes that explore the complexities of American identity, memory, and the passage of time, had a notable fascination with the Civil War. The Last Civil War Veteran series began in 1959 at the height of the Civil Rights Era, taken from a Life Magazine photograph of a man thought to be the last surviving veteran of that conflict. The veteran, bedridden and lying beneath emotionally charged Confederate and American flags, holds but an evanescent presence articulated in the barest of means. With a palette of rich, intense colors and dynamic, expressive brushwork, Rivers cleverly withholds finer details, leaving much of its essential narrative and character obscure while retaining an air of ambiguous uncertainty. Larry Rivers, known for blending elements of pop culture with historical themes that explore the complexities of American identity, memory, and the passage of time, had a notable fascination with the Civil War. The Last Civil War Veteran series began in 1959 at the height of the Civil Rights Era, taken from a Life Magazine photograph of a man thought to be the last surviving veteran of that conflict. The veteran, bedridden and lying beneath emotionally charged Confederate and American flags, holds but an evanescent presence articulated in the barest of means. With a palette of rich, intense colors and dynamic, expressive brushwork, Rivers cleverly withholds finer details, leaving much of its essential narrative and character obscure while retaining an air of ambiguous uncertainty. Larry Rivers, known for blending elements of pop culture with historical themes that explore the complexities of American identity, memory, and the passage of time, had a notable fascination with the Civil War. The Last Civil War Veteran series began in 1959 at the height of the Civil Rights Era, taken from a Life Magazine photograph of a man thought to be the last surviving veteran of that conflict. The veteran, bedridden and lying beneath emotionally charged Confederate and American flags, holds but an evanescent presence articulated in the barest of means. With a palette of rich, intense colors and dynamic, expressive brushwork, Rivers cleverly withholds finer details, leaving much of its essential narrative and character obscure while retaining an air of ambiguous uncertainty. Larry Rivers, known for blending elements of pop culture with historical themes that explore the complexities of American identity, memory, and the passage of time, had a notable fascination with the Civil War. The Last Civil War Veteran series began in 1959 at the height of the Civil Rights Era, taken from a Life Magazine photograph of a man thought to be the last surviving veteran of that conflict. The veteran, bedridden and lying beneath emotionally charged Confederate and American flags, holds but an evanescent presence articulated in the barest of means. With a palette of rich, intense colors and dynamic, expressive brushwork, Rivers cleverly withholds finer details, leaving much of its essential narrative and character obscure while retaining an air of ambiguous uncertainty.
Last Civil War Veteran19619 1/2 x 7 in.(24.13 x 17.78 cm) oil painting on panel
Provenance
Bud Holland, Chicago, Illinois
Private Collection, California
Private Collection, 2001
Literature
Larry Rivers, Drawings and Digressions, 1979, Clarkson N. Potter, Inc. Publishers, New York, pp. 111-112

150,000

Larry Rivers, known for blending elements of pop culture with historical themes that explore the complexities of American identity, memory, and the passage of time, had a notable fascination with the Civil War. The Last Civil War Veteran series began in 1959 at the height of the Civil Rights Era, taken from a Life Magazine photograph of a man thought to be the last surviving veteran of that conflict. The veteran, bedridden and lying beneath emotionally charged Confederate and American flags, holds but an evanescent presence articulated in the barest of means. With a palette of rich, intense colors and dynamic, expressive brushwork, Rivers cleverly withholds finer details, leaving much of its essential narrative and character obscure while retaining an air of ambiguous uncertainty.
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