Kate Taylor reports in today’s New York Times that NYU has disavowed any interest in acquiring the films in Larry Rivers’s archives of his daughters. They’ve asked the foundation not to include those items when it turns over the archives and to look for any other similarly distressing works.

The foundation’s lawyer, Peter R. Stern, confirmed in an e-mail message on Thursday that it would not transfer the materials to the university. As to whether it would turn them over to Mr. Rivers’s daughters, Mr. Stern said that the foundation’s board “has not had an opportunity to fully consider the issues which have been raised” and “will be thoughtfully reviewing the entire subject.” […]

Mr. Beckman said that both the content of the tapes and Ms. Tamburlini’s disagreement with the foundation over what should happen to them came as a surprise to N.Y.U. The foundation had requested that the “Growing” series be restricted during the daughters’ lifetimes. Mr. Beckman said that N.Y.U. was “led to believe that the restrictions on the materials represented a resolution between the foundation and the family.” He added that “obviously we ultimately came to understand” that they did not.

Lost in the controversy is the fact that Rivers archives might be whitewashed of these troubling materials.

NYU Doesn’t Want Film of Artist’s Children (New York Times)