Left: Larry Rivers, The Greatest Homosexual, 1964, oil, collage, and pencil on canvas, 80 x 61“. Right: Larry Rivers, Washington Crossing the Delaware, 1953, oil, graphite, and charcoal on linen, 83 x 111”.
Larry Rivers
Corcoran Gallery of Art
When Barbara Rose started shopping the idea of a Larry Rivers retrospective, MoMA and the Whitney turned her down. She ended up at the Corcoran, and it’s a perfect fit. I’d guess that outside Washington the Corcoran is still thought of as home to the knuckle-under specialists who lost their nerve over Mapplethorpe; despite braver leadership since 1989, it nevertheless often appears as though the museum is attempting to cozy up to risk without getting into any real trouble.
With “Larry Rivers: Art and the Artist,” the Corcoran hangs its hopes on an enfant terrible who’s pushing eighty, sporting