The Artistic Legacy of Larry Rivers: Exploring "Growing" (1981) and Its Lasting Impact
Due to its nature as an art documentary from the early 1980s, accessing Growing might require utilizing film archives or specialized educational platforms. Those interested in studying the film often search for archival footage or digital links that provide access to his creative process.
To understand the documentary, you must understand the subject. Larry Rivers (1923–2002) was an American artist who bridged the gap between Abstract Expressionism and Pop Art.
The film "Growing" was a deeply personal and lengthy project for Rivers. Over a period of five to six years in the 1970s, he filmed his daughters, Emma and Gwynne, twice a year, often asking them questions about their changing bodies and sexuality. The footage included scenes where the girls were topless or completely nude. In 1981, after accumulating this significant archive, Rivers edited the raw footage into a 45-minute film he titled "Growing". He intended to use the film as part of a larger art exhibition, framing it as a serious artistic study of adolescence. --- Documentary Growing 1981 Larry Rivers LINK Download
The film features interviews and candid moments where Rivers discusses his views on fame, the art market, and the transition from the rebellious 50s to the more commercialized 80s.
However, many argue that a father creating close-up pornography of his pre-pubescent children transcends art; it is child exploitation. The debate highlights the dark side of the Pop Art movement. While Rivers is celebrated for merging high art with everyday life, "Growing" represents a disturbing fusion of family intimacy and invasive voyeurism.
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Decades later, after Rivers' death in 2002, the controversy surrounding "Growing" erupted into a major public scandal. The film re-emerged into the public consciousness when his archives were purchased and sent to New York University by the Larry Rivers Foundation. At this point, Rivers' daughter Emma, who had been just 11 years old when the filming began, demanded that the footage of "Growing" be removed from the archive and returned to her and her sister.
Released or compiled around 1981, Growing is not a polished, commercial Hollywood biopic. Instead, it belongs to the tradition of "video diaries" or avant-garde video art that emerged with the commercial availability of Sony Portapak systems and consumer tape formats.
The primary preservation copies of Larry Rivers' video works are held by institutions like the Larry Rivers Foundation , the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) , and the Smithsonian Archives of American Art . These institutions occasionally digitize works for scholarly access. Larry Rivers (1923–2002) was an American artist who
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To understand Growing , one must understand the restless energy of its creator. Born Yitzhoch Loiza Grossberg in the Bronx, Rivers defied categorization.
The video project focuses on the lives of Larry Rivers' daughters. It tracks their development from childhood into young adulthood.
While praised by avant-garde circles for its honesty and radical rejection of commercial film structures, the documentary—and Rivers’ broader video works involving his family—has also faced modern re-evaluation. Critics and viewers often debate the ethical boundaries of an artist using his developing children as primary subjects for public art, making it a highly discussed piece in academic studies of the ethics of videography. The Digital Hunt: Finding a Download Link
It provides an in-depth, intimate portrait of Rivers at work in his studio, offering insights into his creative process and his personal philosophy on art.