Image Not Available

Me

Artist Larry Rivers (American, 1923-2002)

Date1959

MediumOil on canvas

DimensionsOverall: 114 x 177 in. (289.6 x 449.6 cm)

ClassificationsModern art

Credit LineGift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr.

Object number71.2001

Terms

Automobile
Music
Rocking horse
House
Studio
White
Gray
Red
Blue
Yellow
Brown
Black

On View

Not on view

DescriptionThis is an oil on canvas painting in which the artist illustrated "glimpses of everything that's happened to me from birth to the present." The canvas is primarily white, with yellow, blue, and red rectangular shaped colors in the corners. Some of the images are altered from childhood photographs, and others are memories: the artist as a baby is illustrated in the reddish-rectangle above the yellow block; the yellow block shows a young boy on a pony; a figure playing the saxophone is near the center, at bottom; a housetop and upside down car are identified in the red block.

Label TextLarry Rivers American, 1923–2002 Me, 1959 Oil on canvas Larry Rivers described this work as “glimpses of everything that’s happened to me from birth to the present.” He used a collage-like process to create the massive painting, first tacking old photographs of himself and his family to a large board in his studio, and then drawing, smudging, and erasing its images from his canvas. The result is a series of partial memories and partial concealments—a collection of signs and symbols, dreamy myths and deliberate absences, that are akin to reading the artist’s autobiography. Gift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr. 71.2001