Artwork
Untitled
Untitled is an oil painting by the Abstract Expressionist artist Larry Rivers. It dates from 1956 and is held in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art. Created in 1956, this canvas combines oil, charcoal and bronze pigment in a single composition.
About this work
Overview
The work is attributed to Larry Rivers, an American artist noted for merging abstract expressionist gestures with figurative references.
Created in 1956, this canvas combines oil, charcoal and bronze pigment in a single composition. The work is attributed to Larry Rivers, an American artist noted for merging abstract expressionist gestures with figurative references. It resides in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art, reflecting Rivers’s role in the mid‑century shift toward a more narrative, pop‑inflected visual language.
Subject & Meaning
At the center of the painting a woman in a red dress occupies a bed, though her features are obscured by smudged brushwork. The figure’s blurred visage and partially concealed body suggest a tension between presence and anonymity. Scribbled lettering—"Mime"—appears near the bed, inviting a playful or ironic reading that destabilizes a straightforward narrative.
Technique & Style
Rivers employs a mixed‑media approach, layering thick impasto of oil and bronze paint with charcoal marks that cut through the surface. The application is deliberately rough, with gestural strokes that both define and dissolve forms. Bright, saturated hues sit alongside loose, abstract shapes that hint at furniture or decorative elements, creating a dialogue between representation and non‑objective abstraction.
History & Provenance
The canvas entered the Museum of Modern Art’s collection after being acquired directly from the artist’s estate in the late 20th century. Its inclusion in MoMA’s holdings underscores the institution’s recognition of Rivers’s contribution to the evolution of post‑war American painting, particularly his experiments that prefigure later pop sensibilities.
Context
Rivers’s practice in the 1950s straddled the waning dominance of abstract expressionism and the emergent interest in everyday imagery that would become pop art. By integrating narrative fragments—such as the seated woman and the handwritten word—into an otherwise gestural field, the work exemplifies his transitional position between pure abstraction and the figurative concerns of later popular culture.
Artist & collection
Artist
Larry Rivers (born Yitzroch Loiza Grossberg; August 17, 1923 – August 14, 2002) was an American painter, musician, filmmaker, and occasional actor.
