Rivers, Larry; Weinstein, Arnold

What Did I Do?: The Unauthorized Autobiography (of) Larry Rivers

ISBN: 0060190078
New York, NY: HarperCollins Publishers, Inc., 1992. First Edition. Hardcover. Signed & dated at time of publication by Larry Rivers. "If modern art is the twentieth century's biography, then this autobiography of one of its most pivotal figures is a unique record our times. Larry Rivers' dazzlingly intelligent testimony takes us through the more than four decades of New York's postwar cultural explosion, telling what it was like for the artists and jazz musicians and poets and playwrights. And his honest exploration of the place of the erotic in his life and work- with all the accompanying excesses, costs, and entanglements- gives his stunning account of the journey a particular power. His talent and imagination enabled Rivers early on to discover and pursue multiple vocations, and to create a liberated self while maintaining an attachment, in his seemingly anarchic work, to the claims of tradition." (from front flap) The effervescent "Unauthorized Autobiography" (now there's a witty new literary category for you) by Larry Rivers (1923-2002, b. Yitzroch Grossberg), the highly acclaimed American artist, musician & all-around polymath who is considered to be among the founders, if not THE founder, of Pop Art. Written in collaboration with Arnold Weinstein (1927-2005), the acclaimed American poet, playwright & librtettist who was a close friend of Rivers & a fellow member of the New York School of poetry & art. With a section of color reproductions of Rivers' artworks; & black-&-white historic images of Rivers & co. (including Frank O'Hara et al.) throughout. A dynamic & exciting tour-de-force of a memoir, like the author himself. Hardcover in unclipped first-issue dust jacket (with $30 price & "1092N" printed on front flap, first (trade) edition as stated on copyright page, first printing as indicated by number sequence thereon. On the blank page opposite title page, Rivers has hand-written: (signed) Larry Rivers/ 10/27/92" very boldly in black ink. The date coincides with the month & year of publication per jacket notation quoted above. A spectacular Rivers collectible in its rarest original trade form, signed & dated at time of publication (likely during a launch tour) by the great, world-renowned American artist. Book in very fine condition with only a touch of wear & a few tiny bumps at edges & corners of front, back covers & spine; otherwise substantially mint inside & out. Dust jacket very fine with only very light rubbing, occasional faint creasing & spotting to front, back covers & esp. spine; a few tiny bumps, creases at edges & corners of same & flaps. Very Fine / Very Fine. [Item #5413]

Price: $80.00