Close Reading: Chuck Close and the Artist Portrait [Hardcover]

Martin Friedman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1, 2005

One of the most admired and innovative contemporary artists working today, Chuck Close has pioneered ideas of scale, form, and color through the theme of portraiture, a genre that he has fundamentally redefined. The first book to focus on Close's self-portraits and the portraits he has made of fellow artists, Close Reading is a uniquely intimate portrait of Close's life and work by the former director of the Walker Art Center, Martin Friedman, a longtime friend who has had unprecedented access to the artist.

After covering the biographical details of Close's life-including the sudden illness in 1988 that led to near-complete paralysis, and the degree of recovery that enabled him to continue his painting career-Friedman moves on to a probing examination of Close's self-portraiture. The final section deals with Close's paintings of artist subjects, among them Cindy Sherman, Francesco Clemente, Jasper Johns, and William Wegman. Included here are Close's insightful comments about these works and Friedman's discussions with the artists themselves, which reveal much about Close's accomplishments and issues of self-portraiture in both Close's art and their own.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

"Inspiration is for amateurs," according to Chuck Close, one of the most influential and pioneering figurative painters of our time, because "waiting around to be hit on the head by a lightning bolt, you get nothing done.... Ideas flow out of the working process, out of what you have already done." Friedman, former director of the Walker Art Center and longtime friend of Close, offers revealing details of the artist's life including excerpts from personal conversations between the two (friends for nearly four decades), an examination of how Close perfected the technique for his epic-scale portraits and discussions with 10 distinguished artists (and Close subjects) including Jasper Johns, Franceso Clemente and Kiki Smith. Using accessible prose, Friedman offers personal glimpses into everything from the atmosphere of Close's studio (a simply furnished, relaxed setting punctured by many interruptions from the outside world) to his blunt reaction to critics' attempts to understand the psychology behind his self-portraiture. "Close grandly finesses the personal issue by maintaining that all of his paintings, irrespective of their subjects, are in essence self-portraits," writes Friedman, who clearly has his doubts. This thoughtful and engaging tome on one of America's most influential and most collectable artists is a must-read for the collector, casual devotee and student.
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About the Author

Martin Friedman has served as a guest curator and advisor to a number of art museums since retiring as director of the Walker Art Center in 1990. During his more than 30-year tenure at the Walker, Friedman built a major collection of paintings and sculptures, created the world-famous Minneapolis Sculpture Garden adjacent to the museum, and originated numerous exhibitions of contemporary art. His friendship with Chuck Close goes back to 1969 when he acquired the now-iconic Big Self-Portrait from Close for the Walker's collection. In 1980 the museum organized the first Close retrospective, and in the mid-1990s Friedman began a series of discussions with the artist, out of which this book grew. He lives in New York.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 344 pages
• Publisher: Harry N. Abrams; 1ST edition (November 1, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0810959208
• ISBN-13: 978-0810959200
• Product Dimensions: 10.1 x 7.7 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #558,609 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #88 in Books > Arts & Photography > Painting > Portraits

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Insightful, Warm Homage to Chuck Close: The Man and the Artist, November 21, 2005

By 

Grady Harp (Los Angeles, CA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Close Reading: Chuck Close and the Artist Portrait (Hardcover)

Martin Friedman has written and composed a book about his friend and honored colleague Chuck Close that reads as a fine biography. Friedman, previously with the highly regarded Walker Art Center and now an important art historian and curator for other museums, began his 'conversations' with Chuck Close in 1969 and grew into a close personal as well as professional relationship with the artist and this relationship is evident in the quietly detailed information about Close's well known bout with paralysis and subsequent recovery to the point of continuing to be able to paint. The quality of friendship is palpable.

But Friedman does not limit his writing to simply the personal issues that make Chuck Close a hero in the realm of overcoming tragic blows. This book, better than any of the other many volumes on this innovative artist, provides solid information on the development of Close's technique of producing vast canvases out of pixilated portions, explaining in fine detail how he approaches the portrait from inception through painstaking process, to completed work. No one has explained and illustrated it better.

Once Friedman has shown us process he then shares some of Close's important portraits of fellow artists such as Francesco Clemente and Cindy Sherman and accompanies these experiences with valuable illustrations of the works in addition to Friedman's own conversations with each of the artist models in a way that only a man who has the depth in contemporary art that Friedman can make informational and rational!

For this reader the most satisfying portion of this superb book is Friedman's discussion of the Self Portraits of Chuck Close, works that provided significant bridges between his struggle against physical challenge and emotional recovery. It is not only insightful psychologically; it is a true homage to a contemporary hero. Throughout the book the pages are filled with copious excellent reproductions of the materials discussed.
Highly Recommended on many levels. Grady Harp, November 05