Painter, sculptor, printmaker, poet, and musician Larry Rivers (born Yitzroch Loiza Grossberg) created versatile artworks that combined elements of visual, literary, and performing arts. Rivers abandoned his initial #AbstractExpressionist style and applied his drafting skills to figurative subjects related to his personal life and everyday surroundings. His 1950s works, with their sketchy paint application, combined elements of painting and drawing. In the 1960s, Rivers was criticized for appropriating themes and imagery from the work of Old Masters; however, his seemingly irreverent references stemmed from his obsession with examining history, particularly his own artistic and cultural heritage. This painting is a study for a Torah ark cloth commissioned by the architect Percival Goodman for the Congregation B'nai Israel Park Avenue Temple in Bridgeport, Connecticut. The artist's iconoclastic approach to his subject matter together with the misspelled Hebrew word Israel explains why this design was rejected by the congregation. 🎨: #LarryRivers, “Rejected Ark Cloth,” 1954, Oil on canvas. Art © Estate of Larry Rivers/Licensed by _VAGA_, New York, NY. #JewishMuseumCollection