Why did Chuck Close paint portraits?

Self Portrait, 2007 9 color screen print on Somerset Satin paper 38 x 30 inches Edition of 118 Printed at Watanabe Press Publisher: Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts Chuck Close was best known for the monumental heads...

Chuck Close Untitled Daguerreotypes, 2001 Two (2) pigmented digital output iris prints from daguerroeotype printed in a single sheet of wove paper 22 × 29 1/4 inches Signed in pencil, dated and numbered on the front from the edition of 100 Unframed The present work is a pencil signed and numbered daguerreotype that is part of the 2001 “Doctors of the World” series. Close has said “I’m not interested in daguerreotypes because it’s an antiquarian process, I like them because from my point of view, photography never got any better than it was in 1840… Photographs are often so big now that twenty or thirty people can view one at the same time, but a daguerreotype is the most intimate image made with a camera, because it is small and only one person can look at it.” Printer: Universal Limited Art Editions, East Islip, New York / ULAE & Brand X Editions Publisher: Doctors of the World / Art of this Century, NY Literature: "The Art of Healing" which catalogues the works from the portfolio. Chuck Close Prints...

This signed and numbered self-portrait by acclaimed artist Chuck Close is a striking piece created to benefit the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York. Known for his me...

Chuck Close Phil, 1976 Limited Edition rubber stamp print on Strathmore 3-Ply Paper. Pencil numbered 243/1000 on the verso. Artist's printed copyright name verso. Accompanied by orig...

Artist: Chuck Close Title: Tavern Year of Work: 1960 Medium: Oil on Canvas Signature: Signed & Dated Upper Left Dimensions: framed 31 x 25 unframed 30 x 24 Provenance: Chuck Close, Marjorie Dalton (Dear friend of Chuck), Private Collection. Tavern, is truly a rare find, an original oil on canvas, in compelling blues and grays with a touch of gold and orange. This work reveals more imagery and detail the longer one enjoys it. This painting was created during his years studying in Yale Art School, and draws different qualities to each new viewer similar to a Rorschach. Close's work is in the collections of most of the great international museums of contemporary art, including the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris, the Metropolitan Museum of Art New York City. and the Tate Modern in London. Artist Bio: Chuck Close – (1940-2021) an American painter, artist and photographer born in Monroe, Washington. Early childhood illnesses including a neuromuscular condition, nephritis and dyslexia were compounded later in life by a condition known as prosopagnosia (face blindness), which may have inspired him to do portraits. Most of his early, large-format portraits are based on photographs, using photorealism or hyperrealism, of family and friends, often other artists. Close often painted abstract portraits of himself and others, which hang in collections internationally. Even though a catastrophic spinal artery collapse in 1988 left him severely paralyzed, he continued to paint inspired by artists like Jackson Pollock and Willem de Kooning. Close's first solo exhibition, held in 1967 at the University of Massachusetts Art Gallery, Amherst, featured paintings, painted reliefs, and drawings based on photographs of record covers. Being much in the mainstream of pop art, a fragment of Close's portrait of singer-songwriter Paul Simon...

Artist: Chuck Close Title: Untitled (Kates #15) Year: 2005 Medium: Digital pigment print on Hahnemuhle Satin paper Edition: 25 + Proofs; signed, dated and numbered in pencil Sheet: 2...