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.
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Status
- Currently Off View
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Artist
- Chuck Close
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Title
- Alex
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Place
- United States (Artist's nationality:)
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Date
- 1991
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Medium
- Oil on canvas
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Dimensions
- 254 × 213.4 cm (100 × 84 in.)
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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
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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.
