Chuck Close

Chuck Close (1940-2021) was an American painter, visual artist, photographer, and printmaker; the subject of a one-person retrospective at New York's Museum of Modern Art in 1998, his work is found in every significant public and private contemporary art collection worldwide. Over the course of his career, Close had developed his signature subject, the full frontal head-only portrait derived from photographic images. He worked in an array of sizes and media and does not privilege one medium over another. He investigated the full range of possibilities in painting, printmaking and photography.

Lorna, Self-Portrait

In 2002, Close completed a monumental photogravure portrait of the artist Lorna Simpson. Simpson's visage is seen at three-quarters, larger than life, with every detail of her skin, features and hair, shimmering with vitality. Close made a black and white Polaroid image of Simpson, which was used to create the photogravure. In 2005, Close created another large-scale photogravure of a self-portrait. The large scale emphasizes the visual qualities of the photogravure process including very sharp detail, range of tonalities, and surface richness.

Marta, Leslie, Georgia, Emily, John I, John II

Since the late 70s Close has employed his fingerprint technique in a variety of media, including lithography, ink, and oils. Close states, “A finger is a blunt and kind of a dumb tool, but if you’re drawing with a pencil you have to feel through it, or a brush, or whatever you try to have be an extension of your hand. In this case it actually is my hand, so I can feel how much ink I am picking up, and I can also feel how much ink I am putting down.” As with the other gravures in this series, Close created these prints by pressing his thumb in lithographic ink and with the selective use of an eraser he was able to refine the marks. Close greatly varied the size and shape of the fingerprints and rendered amazing detail as eyelashes, pupils, and individual wisps of hair.

 

Further Resources

Artist's Site: chuckclose.com

Printmaking + Sculpture Terms

Printmaking Glossary

Sculpture Glossary

Sales

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Copyright + Reproduction

Images of the artwork are jointly owned by the artist and Graphicstudio. Reproduction of any kind including electronic media must be expressly approved by Graphicstudio.