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Alex

A work made of oil on canvas.

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  • A work made of oil on canvas.

Date:

1991

Artist:

Chuck Close
American, 1940-2021

About this artwork

Since the late 1960s, the pioneering Realist artist Chuck Close has used the human face, tightly framed, as the basis for his art. In 1987 the artist made 24-x-20-inch Polaroid portraits of several fellow artists, which he then turned into studies for oil paintings. Two years later, he suffered a collapsed spinal artery, which severely limited his mobility and confined him to a wheelchair. With great determination, Close regained his former control of his medium, as this monumental portrait of the artist Alex Katz demonstrates. Like much of his recent work, it is less an exact likeness than an exploration of process. Incremental blips of paint—circles, dots, and dashes—are laid into a grid corresponding to the original photographic study.

Status

Currently Off View

Artist

Chuck Close

Title

Alex

Place

United States (Artist's nationality:)

Date  Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

1991

Medium

Oil on canvas

Dimensions

254 × 213.4 cm (100 × 84 in.)

Credit Line

William H. Bartels and Max V. Kohnstamm prize funds; through prior beqests of Katharine Kuh and Marguerita S. Ritman; gift of Lannan Foundation

Reference Number

1997.165

Extended information about this artwork

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.

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