Chuck Close

Gathers paintings, watercolors, prints, paper collages, and photographs by the artists, looks at his painting technique, and assesses the influence of Realism

Close's enormous, head-on portraits make us acutely aware that objectivity is a pose. Recently, this photo-realist painter has branched out in different directions. His Polaroid photographs of nudesover-lifesize, multipanel assemblagesare anatomically detailed yet erotically neutral. Their relaxed subjects are presented warmly instead of clinically, as we had come to expect of his work; some of them even smile. Gargantuan, multidot paintings reminiscent of Seurat's pointillist style smudge their way toward realism. Close's recent pictures of his daughter and his friends combine a soft, impressionistic surface with an ultrarealist attitude. With some 250 illustrations (50 in color), this monograph consists of two essays, both of which argue that Close has at least as much in common with conceptualism and minimalism as with photo-realism. Lyons is the author of Close Portraits, Storr of Philip Guston.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.

"Wunderkind" of the 1970s, Close's Photo-Realist portraits are revered icons in the contemporary art world. This is the first monograph devoted to the artist; it is arranged into sections for essays, plates for paintings and drawings, photographs and multiples, exhibition history, selected bibliography, and index of works. Unfortunately, certain production aspects undercut the book's effectiveness: a hard-to-read choice of typeface for the text and mediocre reproductions of some of the illustrations, many showing the artist at work. Little has been published on Close, outside of periodical literature, so this book does provide useful, consolidated information for patrons of specialized and art school libraries. Paula A. Baxter, Museum of Modern Art Lib., New York
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.