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Chuck Close Art

American, 1940-2021

Chuck Close was renowned for his highly inventive techniques of painting the human face and was best known for his large-scale, photo-based portrait paintings.

After earning his MFA from Yale in 1964, Close took his place atop the American art world by creating large-scale, Photorealistic portraits that have creatively blurred the distinction between photography and painting. In 1988, Close was paralyzed following a rare spinal artery collapse; despite the physical limitations, the artist pressed forward with his work. With a brush taped to his wrist, he continued to paint.

In 2000, Close was presented with the prestigious National Medal of Arts by President Clinton and was appointed by President Obama to serve on the President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities.

"Yes, it is hard to paint blur," Close said. "There are some works I made by using a grid of string to help me perceive changes in depth of focus — something artists have done for centuries. The depth of field in the daguerreotypes is a function of the process of making an image that way, with a very short, very bright flash of light."

Although Close had employed various painterly styles throughout his career, he is perhaps best known for his grid set on the diagonal. Close’s paintings are all-over images where the background of the picture – the negative space – is as important as the face itself, and one cannot exist without the other.

Close often took his family and friends as models, making monumental and classical works that are bold in their simplicity. His work has been the subject of more than 200 solo exhibitions in more than 20 countries, including major retrospective exhibitions at New York's Museum of Modern Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia de Madrid and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.

(Biography provided by Weng Contemporary – ArtXX AG)

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Artist: Chuck Close
Recognized Seller Listings
Sunflower
By Chuck Close
Located in Fairlawn, OH
Polaroid polacolor II photograph Signed and dated in ink From: The Indominal Spirit Portfolio, 1990 The Indomitable Spirit Portfolio published in 1990 in an edition of 50. The portfolio, featuring works by John Baldessari, Barbara Kruger, Annette Lemieux...
Category

1980s Chuck Close Art

Materials

Photographic Paper

Self Portrait
By Chuck Close
Located in Palm Desert, CA
A suite of four holograms by Chuck Close. "Self Portrait" is a contemporary artwork in a palette of blacks and blues by Chuck Close. Each piece measures 14 x 11 in. The work is editioned 16/23 with 2 PPs and is numbered CC(16)2. Chuck Close is an American painter and photographer who achieved fame as a photorealist, through his massive-scale portraits. Though a catastrophic spinal artery collapse in 1988 left him severely paralyzed, he has continued to paint and produce work that remains sought after by museums and collectors. Throughout his career, Close has endeavored to expand his contribution to portraiture through the mastery of such varied drawing and painting techniques as ink, graphite, pastel, watercolor, conte´ crayon, finger painting, and stamp-pad ink on paper; printmaking techniques, such as Mezzotint, etching, woodcuts, linocuts, and silkscreens; as well as handmade paper collage, Polaroid photographs, Daguerreotypes, and Jacquard tapestries. His early airbrush techniques inspired the development of the ink jet printer. Working from a gridded photograph, Close builds his images by applying one careful stroke after another in multi-colors or grayscale. He works methodically, starting his loose but regular grid from the left hand corner of the canvas. His works are generally larger than life and highly focused. Close has been a printmaker throughout his career, with most of his prints published by Pace Editions, New York. He made his first serious foray into print making in 1972, when he moved himself and family to San Francisco to work on a mezzotint at Crown Point Press for a three-month residency. In 1986 he went to Kyoto to work with Tadashi Toda, a highly respected woodblock printer. In 1995, curator Colin Westerbeck used a grant from the Lannan Foundation to bring Close together with Grant Romer, director of conservation at the George Eastman House. The artist has also continued to explore difficult photographic processes such as daguerreotype in collaboration with Jerry Spagnoli and sophisticated modular/cell-based forms such as tapestry. Close’s photogravure portrait of artist Robert Rauschenberg, “Robert” (1998), appeared in a 2009 exhibition at the Heckscher Museum of Art in Huntington, New York, featuring prints from Universal Limited Art Editions. In the daguerreotype photographs, the background defines the limit of the image plane as well as the outline of the subject, with the inky pitch-black setting off the light, reflective quality of the subject’s face. Close’s wall- size tapestry portraits...
Category

20th Century Contemporary Chuck Close Art

Materials

Mixed Media

Inka
By Chuck Close
Located in San Francisco, CA
Edition of 3 Archival watercolor pigment print on Hahnemühle rag paper
Category

2010s Chuck Close Art

Materials

Pigment

Phil (WC print on Japanese HMP)
By Chuck Close
Located in San Francisco, CA
Watercolor pigment print on Awagami handmade BIZAN White Thick 200 grams, hand-coated Edition of 10 Magnolia
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Chuck Close Art

Nat/Felt Hand Stamp
By Chuck Close
Located in San Francisco, CA
Felt hand stamp Edition of 40
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Chuck Close Art

Materials

Oil

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Chuck Close: Daguerreotypes Book, Signed by Chuck Close
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H 38.38 in W 30.38 in
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By Chuck Close
Located in San Francisco, CA
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Mark
H 30 in W 22.25 in

Chuck Close art for sale on 1stDibs.

Find a wide variety of authentic Chuck Close art available for sale on 1stDibs. You can also browse by medium to find art by Chuck Close in pigment print, lithograph, paper and more. Much of the original work by this artist or collective was created during the 21st century and contemporary and is mostly associated with the contemporary style. Not every interior allows for large Chuck Close art, so small editions measuring 6 inches across are available. Customers who are interested in this artist might also find the work of Elizabeth Catlett, Lesley Dill, and Christopher Wool. Chuck Close art prices can differ depending upon medium, time period and other attributes. On 1stDibs, the price for these items starts at $280 and tops out at $275,000, while the average work can sell for $11,750.

Artists Similar to Chuck Close

Questions About Chuck Close Art
  • 1stDibs ExpertMarch 22, 2022
    Chuck Close is most well-known for doing paintings, but he also worked as a photographer. The American artist is most famous for creating huge portraits of himself in both abstract and photorealistic styles. Find a collection of Chuck Close art on 1stDibs.
  • 1stDibs ExpertMay 3, 2024
    Chuck Close lived in a few places. He was born in Monroe, Washington, in 1940 and grew up in the area. Close attended Everett Community College in Everett, Washington, and received his bachelor's degree from the University of Washington in Seattle. Then, he relocated to Connecticut to pursue a master's degree from Yale University. His studies would also prompt him to move to Vienna, Austria, to take courses at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna. After graduation, Close settled in the Amherst, Massachusetts, area while working at the University of Massachusetts. In 1967, he moved again to New York City, New York, to establish his own studio in Soho. Close died in 2021 in Oceanside, New York. Explore a variety of Chuck Close art on 1stDibs.

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