The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Art and Artists (406 page)
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Authors: Ian Chilvers
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Rimmer , William
(1816–79).
English-born American sculptor, painter, teacher, and writer. His family emigrated in the year he was born and eventually settled in Boston, which with New York was his main place of work. Rimmer was an off-beat character and had an eccentric career. He believed he was the heir to the French throne and taught himself medicine, being licensed as a physician in 1855. As an artist too he was self-taught, and although he showed brilliantly precocious talent with his gypsum figure of
Despair
(Mus. of Fine Arts, Boston,
c.
1830), he struggled for recognition, and for years earned his living mainly as a sign and scenery painter and as a cobbler. In his later years, however, he became famous as a teacher, notably for his instructional books,
Elements of Design
(1864) and
Art Anatomy
(1877). Rimmer's output as an artist was very small, but he was the most powerful and original American sculptor of his time; his work excels in dramatic force and vividly displays his anatomical mastery (
Falling Gladiator
, Mus. of Fine Arts, 1861). As a painter, his best-known work is the nightmarish
Flight and Pursuit
(Mus. of Fine Arts, 1872), which, like his sculptures, shows the freshness and unconventionality of his approach and the richness of his imagination.
English-born American sculptor, painter, teacher, and writer. His family emigrated in the year he was born and eventually settled in Boston, which with New York was his main place of work. Rimmer was an off-beat character and had an eccentric career. He believed he was the heir to the French throne and taught himself medicine, being licensed as a physician in 1855. As an artist too he was self-taught, and although he showed brilliantly precocious talent with his gypsum figure of
Despair
(Mus. of Fine Arts, Boston,
c.
1830), he struggled for recognition, and for years earned his living mainly as a sign and scenery painter and as a cobbler. In his later years, however, he became famous as a teacher, notably for his instructional books,
Elements of Design
(1864) and
Art Anatomy
(1877). Rimmer's output as an artist was very small, but he was the most powerful and original American sculptor of his time; his work excels in dramatic force and vividly displays his anatomical mastery (
Falling Gladiator
, Mus. of Fine Arts, 1861). As a painter, his best-known work is the nightmarish
Flight and Pursuit
(Mus. of Fine Arts, 1872), which, like his sculptures, shows the freshness and unconventionality of his approach and the richness of his imagination.
Riopelle , Jean-Paul
(1923– ).
Canadian painter, sculptor, and graphic artist. He is considered the leading Canadian abstract painter of his generation, although since 1947 he has lived in Paris. Riopelle's early abstracts were in a lyrical manner, but in the 1950s his work became tauter, denser, and more powerful, often with paint applied with the palette-knife creating a rich mosaic-like effect. International recognition came with pictures such as the huge
triptych
Pavane
(NG of Canada, Ottawa, 1954). Later his handling became more calligraphic. He is prolific and at home in various media.
Canadian painter, sculptor, and graphic artist. He is considered the leading Canadian abstract painter of his generation, although since 1947 he has lived in Paris. Riopelle's early abstracts were in a lyrical manner, but in the 1950s his work became tauter, denser, and more powerful, often with paint applied with the palette-knife creating a rich mosaic-like effect. International recognition came with pictures such as the huge
triptych
Pavane
(NG of Canada, Ottawa, 1954). Later his handling became more calligraphic. He is prolific and at home in various media.
Ripa , Cesare
.
.
Rivera , Diego
(1886–1957).
Mexican painter, the most celebrated figure in the revival of monumental fresco painting that is Mexico's most distinctive contribution to modern art. He visited Paris in 1909 and after a brief return to Mexico he settled there from 1911 to 1920. During this time he became one of the lions of café society and was friendly with many leading artists. He became familiar with modern movements, but although he made some early experiments with
Cubism
for example, his mature art was firmly rooted in Mexican tradition. At about the time of the Russian Revolution he had become interested in politics and in the role art could play in society. In 1920–1 he visited Italy to study Renaissance frescos (already thinking in terms of a monumental public art), then returned to his homeland, eager to be of service to the Mexican Revolution. In 1920 Alvaro Obregón, an art lover as well as a reformist, had been elected President of Mexico, and Rivera, who was an extremely forceful personality, swiftly emerged as the leading artist in the programme of murals he initiated glorifying the history and people of the country in a spirit of revolutionary fervour. Many examples of his work are in public buildings in Mexico City, and they are often on a huge scale, a tribute to his enormous energy. His most ambitious scheme, in the National Palace, covering the history of Mexico, was begun in 1929; it was still unfinished at his death, but it contains some of his most magnificent work. Rivera's murals were frankly didactic, intended to inspire a sense of nationalist and socialist identity in a still largely illiterate population; their glorification of creative labour or their excoriation of capitalism can be crude, but his best work has astonishing vigour. His skill in choreographing his incident- and figure-packed compositions, in combining traditional and modern subject matter, and in blending stylized and realistic images is formidable.
In 1927 Rivera visited the Soviet Union and in 1930–4 he worked in the USA, painting several frescos that were influential on the muralists of the
Federal Art Project
. His main work in American was a series on
Detroit Industry
(1932–3) in the Detroit Institute of Arts (commissioned by William
Valentiner
); another major mural,
Man at the Crossroads
(1933), in the Rockefeller Center, New York, was destroyed before completion because he included a portrait of Lenin. It was replaced by a mural by
Brangwyn
. Throughout his career he also painted a wide range of easel pictures, in some of which he experimented with the encaustic (wax) technique. Rivera was an enormous man (standing over 6 feet and weighing over 20 stones), and although he was notoriously ugly he was irresistibly attractive to women. He had numerous love affairs and was married three times, his second wife (and his third, for they divorced and remarried) being the painter Frida
Kahlo
.
Mexican painter, the most celebrated figure in the revival of monumental fresco painting that is Mexico's most distinctive contribution to modern art. He visited Paris in 1909 and after a brief return to Mexico he settled there from 1911 to 1920. During this time he became one of the lions of café society and was friendly with many leading artists. He became familiar with modern movements, but although he made some early experiments with
Cubism
for example, his mature art was firmly rooted in Mexican tradition. At about the time of the Russian Revolution he had become interested in politics and in the role art could play in society. In 1920–1 he visited Italy to study Renaissance frescos (already thinking in terms of a monumental public art), then returned to his homeland, eager to be of service to the Mexican Revolution. In 1920 Alvaro Obregón, an art lover as well as a reformist, had been elected President of Mexico, and Rivera, who was an extremely forceful personality, swiftly emerged as the leading artist in the programme of murals he initiated glorifying the history and people of the country in a spirit of revolutionary fervour. Many examples of his work are in public buildings in Mexico City, and they are often on a huge scale, a tribute to his enormous energy. His most ambitious scheme, in the National Palace, covering the history of Mexico, was begun in 1929; it was still unfinished at his death, but it contains some of his most magnificent work. Rivera's murals were frankly didactic, intended to inspire a sense of nationalist and socialist identity in a still largely illiterate population; their glorification of creative labour or their excoriation of capitalism can be crude, but his best work has astonishing vigour. His skill in choreographing his incident- and figure-packed compositions, in combining traditional and modern subject matter, and in blending stylized and realistic images is formidable.
In 1927 Rivera visited the Soviet Union and in 1930–4 he worked in the USA, painting several frescos that were influential on the muralists of the
Federal Art Project
. His main work in American was a series on
Detroit Industry
(1932–3) in the Detroit Institute of Arts (commissioned by William
Valentiner
); another major mural,
Man at the Crossroads
(1933), in the Rockefeller Center, New York, was destroyed before completion because he included a portrait of Lenin. It was replaced by a mural by
Brangwyn
. Throughout his career he also painted a wide range of easel pictures, in some of which he experimented with the encaustic (wax) technique. Rivera was an enormous man (standing over 6 feet and weighing over 20 stones), and although he was notoriously ugly he was irresistibly attractive to women. He had numerous love affairs and was married three times, his second wife (and his third, for they divorced and remarried) being the painter Frida
Kahlo
.
Rivers , Larry
(1923– ).
American painter, sculptor, graphic artist, and designer, considered one of the leading figures of the movement towards figurative art that succeeded
Abstract Expressionism
in the
New York School
. He was a professional jazz saxophonist in the early 1940s and began painting in 1945, studying at the Hans
Hofmann
School, 1947–8, and then at New York University under
Baziotes
in 1948. His work of the early and mid-1950s continued the vigorous painterly handling associated with Abstract Expressionism, but was very different in character. Some of his paintings were fairly straightforwardly naturalistic, but others looked forward to
Pop art
in their quotations from well-known advertising or artistic sources, their use of lettering, and their deadpan humour. An example is
Washington Crossing the Delaware
(MOMA, New York, 1953), based on the picture by
Leutze
. In the late 1950s and 1960s his work came more clearly within the orbit of Pop, sometimes incorporating cut-out cardboard or wooden forms, electric lights, and so on, but his sensuous handling of paint set him apart from other Pop artists. Rivers has also made sculpture, collages, and prints, designed for the stage, acted, and written poetry.
American painter, sculptor, graphic artist, and designer, considered one of the leading figures of the movement towards figurative art that succeeded
Abstract Expressionism
in the
New York School
. He was a professional jazz saxophonist in the early 1940s and began painting in 1945, studying at the Hans
Hofmann
School, 1947–8, and then at New York University under
Baziotes
in 1948. His work of the early and mid-1950s continued the vigorous painterly handling associated with Abstract Expressionism, but was very different in character. Some of his paintings were fairly straightforwardly naturalistic, but others looked forward to
Pop art
in their quotations from well-known advertising or artistic sources, their use of lettering, and their deadpan humour. An example is
Washington Crossing the Delaware
(MOMA, New York, 1953), based on the picture by
Leutze
. In the late 1950s and 1960s his work came more clearly within the orbit of Pop, sometimes incorporating cut-out cardboard or wooden forms, electric lights, and so on, but his sensuous handling of paint set him apart from other Pop artists. Rivers has also made sculpture, collages, and prints, designed for the stage, acted, and written poetry.
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