Chuck Close

A detailed Summary of Chuck Close


Chuck Close (born 1940) is an American photorealist specializing in close-up portraits and self-portraits. Close is one of the very few modern realists or photorealists who focus on the human face. In 1988, in mid-career, Close was paralyzed due to a blood clot in his spinal column. He regained partial use of his arms, and was able to return to painting after developing techniques which allowed him to work from a wheelchair.

All of Close's works are based on photographs he takes himself. Close always follows the same guidelines in planning a painting. The source photograph is a tightly cropped head and shoulder shot. The subject is a family member or friend. The finished work is always titled by the subject's first name alone (with the exception of "Self-Portrait"). This decision was intended to project an au


Close's repertory of marks has changed dramatically. In place of the discreet dots and miniature strokes of his early work, not to mention the pictures constructed of fingerprints he made in the early'80s, each of the enlarged squares in the new grids contains colorful, painterly marks that function as mini- abstract paintings of their own. Concentric circles, lozenges, hot dog and doughnut-like shapes, and freeform squiggles are the building blocks of his new faces. His palette has expanded from black and white and color images based on the three primaries to one that tilts toward yellow and flesh tones at one extreme, and deep purples and blues on the other.

Close's work falls into two periods, the early and the middle, in which he is now fruitfully engaged. It is easy to divide the two periods on either side

Some common words found in the essay are:
Chuck Close, source photograph,

Approximate Word count = 551
Approximate Pages = 2 (250 words per page double spaced)

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