In the vast ocean of art history documentaries, there are towering titans (like Civilisation ) and then there are hidden gems—films that capture a specific chemical reaction of time, place, and personality. The 1981 documentary Growing falls squarely into the latter category. For decades, this intimate portrait of the legendary, provocative pop artist Larry Rivers has existed in a gray zone of copyright purgatory and physical media decay.
There is a famous five-minute shot in the third act where Rivers stares at his half-finished canvas. He doesn't paint. He just looks. His face cycles from rage to grief to boredom. No voiceover explains it. No talking head analyzes it. That is the power of 1981 vérité.
Before Andy Warhol was printing soup cans, Rivers was gluing cigarette packs to canvases. In the 1950s, he was the bridge between Abstract Expressionism (de Kooning was a mentor) and the Pop Art explosion. He was also a published poet, a world-class jazz saxophonist, and a notoriously difficult personality. documentary growing 1981 larry rivers download updated
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If you are one of those seekers, you have landed in the right place. This article will dissect why this documentary matters, who Larry Rivers was, the history of the film, and—most importantly—where to find updated, high-quality downloads or streams in 2025. Directed by acclaimed experimental filmmaker D.A. Pennebaker (known for Don’t Look Back and Monterey Pop ) and Chris Hegedus , Growing was never meant to be a simple chronological biography. Instead, the film follows Rivers over a single intensive year as he battles with a massive, complex painting titled The History of Matzah (The Story of the Jewish People) . In the vast ocean of art history documentaries,
For collectors, the "holy grail" is the —which runs 88 minutes—before it was trimmed for PBS broadcasts. Larry Rivers: The Forgotten Godfather of Pop Art To understand the demand for the download, you must understand Larry Rivers.
However, in the last 18 months, a renewed interest has surged. Collectors, art students, and Rivers’ cult following are searching for the same phrase: There is a famous five-minute shot in the
Unlike the polished art docs of HBO or Netflix today, Growing is raw, vérité, and unflinchingly chaotic. It captures Rivers in his element: chain-smoking, shouting at canvases, womanizing, and confronting his own mortality. The title Growing is ironic; at 58, Rivers was not growing up, but growing into the messiest version of his artistic self.