LARRY RIVERS
Benin City Sculpture.

Color pastels, pencil, and paper collage on cream wove paper, 1968. 353x330 mm; 13 7/8x13 inches. Signed, titled and dated in ink, lower right recto, and dedicated in pencil, lower right recto.

Provenance: The artist, with the label; given by the artist to the dedicatee, Pierre-Dominique Gaisseau; Marlborough Galleries, New York, with the label; Clark Fine Art, Southampton, New York, 2002; collection of Jane Johnson, 2002; gift from the former to Women's Art Center of the Hamptons, Inc., 2023.

Rivers (1923-2002) and French documentary filmmaker Pierre-Dominique Gaisseau (1923-1997) spent six months making Africa and I, a travelogue about Central and West African culture filmed on the continent, part of the NBC series Experiment in Television. While in Nigeria, Rivers and Gaisseau were arrested as suspected mercenaries and were nearly executed. The dedication, "To Pierre, Our Trip, Africa & I & Death," combined with the subject of this work on paper, is a reminiscence of their travels, with a humorous play on the documentary's title.

 

Estimate: $ 3,000 - $ 5,000