Chuck Close 1940 Present

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Chuck Close1940 - Present
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Biography

• Chuck Close was born in Monroe, Washington in
  1940
• For the majority of his adult life, Chuck lived
  and worked as an artist in New York.

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Education and Training in Art

• At the age of 4, Close knew he wanted to be an
  artist.
• Chuck Close graduated from the University of
  Washington (Magna cum laude) in 1962
• He then went to Yale where he earned his Masters
  degree.

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Personal Information

• He was big, clumsy and not very athletic. He was
  also dyslexic and everyone considered him dumb
  and lazy. He was told to forget about college.
• When Close was 11, his father died and his mother
  got breast cancer. They lost their home because
  of medical bills. His grandmother was diagnosed
  with Parkinson's disease. Close, an only child,
  spent most of that year in bed with nephritis, a
  nasty kidney infection.
• His work began to be shown in important New York
  galleries in the late 1960s. In the early 1970s,
  he was exhibiting in prestigious international
  exhibitions. By 1980, he was widely recognized as
  an important figure in contemporary American art.
  
• At the age of 49, Close was at the height of his
  career as a portrait painter when he was stricken
  with a spinal blood clot that left him a
  quadriplegic. Many thought his career was over.
• But like the previous tragedies in his life, that
  didn't stop him either. He not only returned to
  painting, but with a new style that has kept his
  place as one of the great American painters of
  our time.

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Photorealism is the style of art for which Close
is known. Photorealism is a painting style
resembling photography in its close attention to
detail, the opposite of abstract expressionism.
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 Title Big Self-PortraitDate1967-68Medium
Acrylic on canvas. Size 107 1/2 x 83 1/2"
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Title LindaDate 1975-76. Medium Acrylic
and pencil on canvasSize108 x 84" (274.3 x
213.4cm)
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• Title Georgia II
• Date 1985
• Medium etching
• Size 57.5cm x 44.5cm

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Title KikiDate 1993.Medium Oil on
canvasSize 100 x 84 1/8" (254 x 213.7cm)
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Title Lyle Date 2003Medium 147 Color
silkscreenImage size 58 1/4 x 47 7/8
inchesPaper Size 65 1/4 x 53 7/8 inches
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Title Self Portrait, Date 2000Medium
Acrylic on canvas Size 58 3/8 x 48 inchesThis
is my favorite painting done by Chuck Close. I
like the frank, unabashed way in which he chose
to paint himself. I also like his use of color
and the diagonal twist on the traditional use of
a grid.

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Chuck Closes Contribution to the World of Art

• The artwork of Chuck Close is important to the
  world of art because it illustrates that portrait
  painting, a very traditional art form, can be
  recreated as a contemporary form of artistic
  expression.
• Chuck Close also shows us, through his own life
  and hardships, the important role that that
  perseverance and creativity can play.