Larry Rivers’ French Money Paintings

Jeudi 12 avril 2012
17h
Terra Foundation for American Art Europe
29, rue des Pyramides
75001 Paris



Sophie Cras, doctorante, Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne

In autumn 1961, American artist Larry Rivers moved to Paris to prepare his first one-man shows in Europe, at the Galerie Rive Droite and London's Gimpel Fils Gallery. Then famous for his nostalgically oriented portraits, Rivers profoundly renewed his iconography during his time in France. He became particularly attached to the motif of the 100-“new franc” bill then in circulation, which he painted repeatedly between the end of 1961 and the beginning of 1963. He thus created one of his most important series, the “French Money” paintings. How to explain Rivers' predilection for this subject ? Is it simply an example of the banal, mass production-related imagery favored by Pop Art ? Or does it represent an expressionist treatment of a motif that becomes erased in the process of abstraction ? This presentation will demonstrate how these bank note portraits actually suggest an incisive reading of Gaullist France of the early 1960s, a moment of profound identity crisis in the society's economic, political, colonial, and moral underpinnings.

With degrees from Sciences Po (Masters in finance, 2008) and the Ecole Normale Supérieure of Paris (department of art history and theory, 2009), Sophie Cras is currently a doctoral candidate in art history at Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne under the direction of Philippe Dagen. She is working on her dissertation entitled L'Economie au miroir de l'art, which traces the integration of economic and financial problematics into artistic practices in the 1960s in Europe and the United States.

The workshop will be held in French. Free admission
Terra Foundation for American Art Europe
29, rue des Pyramides
75001 Paris
Téléphone 01 43 20 67 01
Email information terraamericanart.eu
Website www.terraamericanart.org/europe