Chuck Close’s portraits are extraordinary, all the more so because Close has prosopagnosia—a condition that makes remembering and recognizing faces difficult if not impossible. As Colin Westerbeck wrote in his new photobook, Chuck Close, Photographer: “The idea that his genius as an artist may have sprung from a limitation he suffered as a child is such an emotionally and psychologically loaded possibility that Close himself has blocked it out. ‘I was not conscious of making a decision to paint portraits because I have difficulty recognizing faces,’ he has claimed. ‘That occurred to me twenty years after the fact.’” The following photographs are just a sample of this artist’s remarkable output.
Self-Portrait, 1989 Color Polaroid diptych, two panels, each 24 x 20 in. (61 x 50.8 cm) Private collection
Chuck Close, courtesy of Pace Gallery
Hillary Rodham Clinton, 1999 Color Polaroid, 24 x 20 in. (61 x 50.8 cm) Private collection
Chuck Close, printed by Adamson Editions
Anthurium, 1987 Color Polaroid diptych mounted on aluminum, two panels, overall 102 x 83 ¾ in. (259.1 x 212.7 cm Private collection
Laura I, 1984 Color Polaroids mounted on aluminum, five panels, each 97 x 43 in. (246.4 x 109.2 cm) Private collection
Chuck Close/20x24 Studio, courtesy of Pace Gallery
Kara Walker, 2008 pigment print on Innova FibaPrint gloss paper and chine collé on Somerset Satin paper, 38 ¾ x 29 ¼ in. (98.4 x 74.3 cm) Edition of 20
Chuck Close, courtesy of Pace Gallery
Laurie Anderson, 2011 Color Polaroid, 24 x 20 in. (61 x 50.8 cm) Private collection
Chuck Close, printed by Adamson Editions
Bill T. Jones, 2008 black-and-white Polaroid diptych mounted on aluminum, two panels, each 24 x 20 in. (61 x 50.8 cm) Private collection
Chuck Close, courtesy of Pace Gallery
Self-Portrait / Composite / Six Parts, 2005 Six color Polaroids, 183 x 122 in. (464.8 x 309.9 cm) Private collection
Kerry Ryan McFate, courtesy of Pace Gallery
Sunflower Triptych (Alive), 1987 Color Polaroid triptych, three panels, overall 102 x 129 in. (259.1 x 327.7 cm) Private collection
Chuck Close, courtesy of Pace Gallery
Untitled Torso Diptych, 2003 Daguerreotype, two panels, each 8 ½ x 6 ½ in. (21.6 x 16.5 cm) Private collection
Alec Baldwin, 2010 Color Polaroid, 24 x 20” (61 x 50.8 cm) Private collection
Chuck Close, printed by Adamson Editions
Chuck Close Photographer (Prestel), By Colin Westerbeck, with contributions by Chuck Close and Terrie Sultan.
Random House
