Chuck Close
An American Master Painter

Chuck Close, Then
• Born 1940
• Most of his works are
large scale photorealist portraits, done
from photograph
• He uses a grid system
and creates the image
cell by cell

• His initial tools were
an airbrush, rags, razor
blade, and an eraser
mounted on a drill
• First portrait was done
in 1968 and took four
months (Big Self
Portrait)

• He often uses the same
photographs over and
over again
• The subject of his
portraits are usually
friends, which happen
to be other famous and
important artists

• He is an avid
experimentalist, using
varied materials like
acrylic paint,
watercolor,
printmaking
techniques, finger
printing, and
photographic
techniques

• This is an example of one
of his prints.
• The process is called relief
printing using linoleum
blocks.
• Each mark is made by
carving away part of the
block
• The image is of Alex Katz

Chuck Close, Now
• In 1988 he had a
spinal artery collapse
• He felt ill before
speaking at an art
awards ceremony and
went to the hospital
after giving the speech
• 4 hours later he was a
quadriplegic

• Close continued to
paint mini portraits
with the brush
clenched between his
teeth as part of his
physical therapy
• He now states that’s
all that kept him alive

• Close eventually regained
some use of his arms and
continues to paint
• His work still uses the grid
format, but now he creates
little shape and color
paintings in each cell to
create a large recognizable
portrait

A close up view of his current work