Realistic Representation

Chuck Close

Enduring Understanding

Through the study of these artworks,students discover:1.Why naturalism is selected as a

means of expression.

2.How artists use the mechanism of realistic representation to realise its purpose and function.

Essential QuestionsOverarching Questions1. What are the criteria for a realistic artwork?

2. How do artists use realistic representation to express their artistic intentions?

3. How do artists use realistic representation as a mechanism to express social issues?

Topical Questions1. How is the subject matter in the artwork being

represented?

2. Which artist is more successful in using realistic representation to express social issues?

3. Which artist is more successful in depicting a high level of technical skill?

5W1H

Chuck Close

When1940-

WhatPortraits of family &

friends

WhereUSA

HowPainting

Printmaking

WhyHis early learning

disabilities

The need to scan study and commit to memory the faces of people who

matters to Close.

WhichContemporary Art

Photorealism

Keywords

• Photographic• Super-realism• Portraits • Magnified• Large scale• Grids• Finger-painting/Printmaking/Collage

Big Self Portrait, 1968.

Acrylic on canvas, 273 x

212 cm

When

• Important events which influenced his life and

artworks

When

• Scholarship to Yale Summer School of Music and Art in Norfolk, Connecticut in 1961– Unconventional approach to teaching (eg.

Drawing with long sticks dipped in ink) – It gave him the opportunity to visit New

York art galleries and museums

• Pop artists were on the rise (1950-60s)– Turn to photographic imagery as sources

Where

Where

USA• Abstract Expressionism and American

advertising such as the billboards triggered an interest in large scale works in the 50s and 60s.

• However, Abstract Expressionism began to wane by 1967, though Minimalism and Pop Art were still very much alive.

Which

• Photorealism

WhichPhotorealism- by Artlex

Photo-Realism is used to describe a movement (late 1960s to the 1970s) rather than the approach or technique.

A realistic painting approach that includes the reproduction of details. Photographs are usually used as a reference.

As a result, the painting looks almost photographic.

It refers to a type of illusionism also known as super-realism.

Some other artists- Duane Hanson and Richard Estes.

What

Subject Matters– Portraits– Biomorphic Abstracts – Grid paintings– Human figures

WhatSubject Matter- Portraits

His aim was to achieve an “all-over, frontal, two-dimensional effect within the parameters of representational art.” (Finch, 2007, p.42).

He wanted to create works that are also less overtly emotional.

The poses of his models and himself- objective and emotionless, as if taking a photograph for the passport.

He only paints portraits of people who were close to him (eg. friends and family)

WhatSubject Matter - Biomorphic Abstracts In 1978 onwards, he began to work with dots,

using fingertip in place of the airbrush.

He also created portraits with “evenly-spaced grid of plump lusciously-pigmented dots over a warm flesh-tinted ground” and to mute the impact, he filled in these dots with “smaller dabs of colour”. (Finch, 2007, p. 155)

Sometimes, these dots are stretched into an oval shape.

Then, the small circles slowly gave way to diamond and lozenge shapes.

How Uses grids as the underlying basis for his works.

He draws the grid onto the primed canvas to ensure accuracy of copying from each square of the grid.

He uses brushes, sponges, rags and an airbrush to lay down paint in thin transparent layers.

Mimic the mechanical quality of a photograph

He uses various kinds of blades and electric eraser to scrape the paint off in order to reveal more white underneath.

He was intending to achieve “an all-over effect in which every part of the canvas had equal importance.

Material– brushes, sponges, rags and airbrush– blades and electric eraser

Techniques– grid on primed canvas– paint in thin transparent layers– scrape the paint off in order to reveal

more white underneath

How

Big Self Portrait, 1968.

Acrylic on canvas, 273 x 212 cm

Black and White Heads

What- Big Self-Portrait An element of chance precedes this work.

He was taking pictures of himself, stripped to the waist because he was still exploring the idea of the nude and thought of the head as a detail of the nude.

His intention was to work from images that are not saturated with subjective information, the photograph however suggests a “heck-care” attitude.

The black and white colour scheme was intended to emphasise the photographic origin of the image.

Again, it’s a work meant to be viewed in close range. Every detail in this way, has been magnified much in a way when things are viewed under a microscope.

Sample answersbased on Frank, 1969

Frank, 1969Acrylic on canvas,

274 x 213 cm

Black and White Heads

(a) Describe the subject matter in this work. (Ans below in the text box)

Frank, 1969Acrylic on canvas,

274 x 213 cm

Black and White Heads

(b) How is this painting photorealistic? TIP: Look at ‘How’. This refers to the technique of how the artist paints the portrait in a photorealistic manner?

(Ans below in the text box)

Nancy, 1968.Acrylic on canvas, 275.3 x 208,9 cm.

Black and White Heads

Linda, 1975-76. Acrylic on canvas, 274.3 x 213.4 cm

Coloured Heads

Mark, 1978-79. Acrylic on canvas, 274.3 x 213.4 cm

Coloured Heads

Phil/Fingerprint, 1979. Stamp-pad ink on paper, 76.2 x 56.2 cm

His Finger Paintings

Fanny/Finger painting, 1985.Oil-based ink on canvas, 259 x 213.4 cmNational Gallery of Art, USA

His Finger Paintings

His Grid Paintings(Biomorphic

abstracts)

Self-Portrait, 1997.Oil on canvas, 259 x 213.4 cm

Private Collection

Lucas II, 1997.Oil on canvas, 91.4 x 76.2 cm

This is painted in a concentric circle structure. It appears to have spokes extending from the center- which creates a

collective energy at the center as this same energy diminishes

to the edge.

Using Dots

Keith/Mezzotint, 1972.Mezzotint on paper, 130.8 x 106.7 cm.

His Prints

His Prints - (based on his biomorphic abstracts)

Lyle, 2002.147-colour

silkscreen, 166.4 x 136.8 cm

What is silkscreen? (Go and research on it)

Emma, 2002.123-colour Japanese

woodcut, 109.2 x 88.9 cm

His Prints (based on his biomorphic painting)

See text box below for the Feldman Analysis

What is Japanese woodcut?

Why

• Artist’s philosophy/intentions

• Influences

WhyHis Background- His Early Years• Close decided that he wanted to be an

artist at the age of four/five. – As an only child, his mother encouraged him to

fill his solitude with creative activities. – His father was an adroit (skillful) toy maker-

something that might have influenced Close in his great respect for skills.

• It was his father who sent him to learn art from a woman with solid academic knowledge, whom they have met in a diner, for a period of over two years.

Why

His Background- His Early Years• Close was subjected to the rigour of

still-life painting, landscapes en plein air and figure drawing lessons.

• He used to analyze and imitate the works of illustrators for magazines like the Collier’s and the Saturday Evening Post.

Why

His Background- His Early Years• He suffered from a neuromuscular condition

since he was very young and compensated the incapacity in sports with art.

• He is also dyslexic when he was discovered in school to be forming letters that are mirrored or upside-down.

• He learnt to break information down to smaller bits and reassemble them into a whole that turned out to be a fresh synthesis.

Why

His Background- His Early Years• Close also discovered that he suffers

from prosopagnosia- a condition that prevents him from recognizing faces as a result of a malfunction in a certain area of the brain.

• Today, he accredits the condition for his artistic interest in the mechanics of pictorialism.

Why

His Influence- Time Magazine Illustrators• He admires artists for Time covers such as

Ernest Hamlin Baker and Boris Chaliapin.

Mohandas Gandhi, June 1947 cover.

by Boris ChaliapinTIME Magazine

Bob Hope, Sept 1943 cover.by Ernest Hamlin Baker

TIME Magazine

WhyHis Influence- Jackson PollockHe was also astonished with Jackson Pollock’s drip paintings when his mother took him to Seattle Art Museum, expecting to see “real” pictures¹. This transgression (overstepping boundary) was beginning to appeal to him.

Number 23, 1948Enamel on gesso on paper,

575 x 784 mm

Woman I, 1950-52.Oil on canvas, 192.7 x 147.3 cm

WhyHis Influence- Willem de KooningHe was also drawn to the figures of Willem de Kooning- admired his ability to transform the figurative elements into the Abstract Expressionism style.

Modular Piece T, 1971by Sol Le Witt

Wood painted white, 61.6 cm³

Why

His Influence- Sol Le WittHe came upon Sol Le Witt’s early wall drawings which took the form of grids-

The Marriage of Reason and Squalor II, 1959by Frank Stella

Enamel on canvas, 230.5 x 337.2 cmMoMA, New York

WhyHis Influence- Frank StellaHe was inspired by Stella’s flat, frontal and non-relational abstractions.

WhyWhy Large Scale Works• Close intended his large-scale works to be seen from

close range (although he has no objection to his works being appreciated afar).

• He is more interested in the impact these huge works have on the audience at close range- the impossibility for them to digest the information in the conventional way (as in seeing it as a whole in one glance).

• For example, he wanted the audience to appreciate a female nude like a panoramic view of a landscape- shoulders become valleys and breasts become mountains.

• In this sense, he’s attempting to achieve an abstract or less representational form with absolute likeness.

Why

His Background- The Event• In the year 1988, Close became paralysed,

neck down, after a period of intermittent attack of angina pains (also known as chest pains).

• He was able to paint again after seven months of rehabilitation but with restrictions to his mobility.

Why

Summary• Dyslexia led him to reassemble smaller

broken down information into a new synthesis

• Influenced by a myriad of artists (mainly abstract)- for his early works.

• Large scale to create impact at close range

How

• Materials• Techniques

HowMaterialsAcrylicOilPaper- for collage works.Pastels- Close’s fascination for pastels is due

to the medium’s “purity” and “intensity”. Pastels are dry powdered pigment without addition of any other medium.

Stamp-Pad InkWatercolour

HowTechniquesUsing photographs as a reference. In this case,

the camera lens has already captured the 3-D aspect of the model and reduced it into a 2-D flat representation. This produces an illusory likeness through mechanical means¹.

This also allows him to “realise the variations in focus due to changing depth of field, something impossible when working from life.” (Tate)

It is not an indication of inferiority or superiority but more of a difference in approach and results.

How - Close’s Black and White Heads

He worked from two *maquettes, each an enlargement of a photograph squared off to accommodate a grid consisting of 546 squares.

The first marquette is attached to a sheet of cardboard with masking tape and the other is a montage (mosaic) of four different prints, each quadrant comprising each quarter of his face.

The first marquette was printed slightly darker in order for him to see the lighter detail.

The canvas was prepared with a dozen coats of *gesso, each coat being sanded down before the next application.

*see text box below for definitions.

How - Black and White Heads

Then, he transferred using a pencil from the photograph to the canvas, making use of the grid.

Next, he used an airbrush with diluted acrylic paint to define the upper section of the image first, followed by the rest.

He continued with the method, increasing the density of the pigment as he progresses.

The highlights are created by removing the paint using razor blades and electric eraser.

It is the same technique used by commercial artists.

How - Close’s Coloured Portraits

He wanted his colour portraits to be consistent with the process he had used for his black and white heads.

Instead of pre-mixing the colour on the palette before applying them, he uses the method of colour separations. By superimposing transparent colours of magenta, cyan and yellow upon one another on a white background, the full colour spectrum can be perceived by the eye.

He thus forms the colour portraits with three very thin, transparent layers of diluted acrylic colours- magenta, cyan and yellow.

How He experimented with various types of black and

white mediums- ink, pencil, pulp paper,

He also experimented with various types of colour medium- acrylic, ink, watercolour, Polaroid photographs and others.

He also made occasional prints using mezzotint before the “event”.

However, printmaking became more and more prevalent as a medium for his works in the 1980s.

Close approach to his works is driven by process.

How

Summary• Photographs as reference• Using a 546-square grid system• Primed canvas• Pencil transfer• Airbrush with diluted acrylic paint• Scrape off paint to create highlights• Method of color separation- builds them

up from cyan, magenta and yellow.

How

How

References Finch, C. (2007). Chuck Close: Work. Prestel

Verlag: New York.

Engberg, S. (2005). The Paper Mirror in Chuck Close: Self Portraits 1967-2005.

http://www.tate.org.uk/servlet/ArtistWorks?cgroupid=999999961&artistid=920&tabview=bio

http://www.moma.org/collection/browse_results.php?criteria=O:AD:E:1156&page_number=1&template_id=6&sort_order=1