ARTIST MONOGRAPHS

Chuck Close

Museum Exhibition Catalogues, Monographs, Artist's Projects, Curatorial Writings and Essays


"If you think about the late 60s, painting seemed like a senseless activity. If you were dumb enough to make a painting, it had better be abstract. It was even dumber to make a representational image. Then the dumbest, most moribund, out-of-date and shopworn of all possible things you could do was make a portrait."
Chuck Close, quoted by Douglas R. Nickel in Chuck Close: Self-Portraits 1967-2005, Walker Art Center/San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.

Chuck Close was born in Monroe, Washington, in 1940 and studied visual art at Yale University. Photography has been an integral part of his painting process since the mid-60s, and later became a body of work in its own right. Close has also distinguished himself as a master of printmaking. Since 1967 his work has been the subject of more than 100 major exhibitions throughout the world.

 

FORTHCOMING & NEW RELEASES

Chuck Close: Red, Yellow, and Blue

PACE PUBLISHING
Introduction by Phong Bui. Text by Carter Ratcliff, Barbara Knappmeyer. Interview by Cindy Sherman.

The final works of the photorealist pioneer, made with a palette of only three colors

Pbk, 11.75 x 14.25 in. / 88 pgs / 63 color. | 8/6/2024 | In stock
$40.00


   

ACTIVE BACKLIST

Chuck Close: Mosaics

SILVANA EDITORIALE
Edited with text by Daniele Torcellini. Text by Giovanna Cassese, Senaldi, Carina Evangelista.

Chuck Close’s mosaic and tile works, including his pieces for the 86th St subway station in New York

Pbk, 9.5 x 10.75 in. / 192 pgs / 80 color. | 3/17/2020 | In stock
$30.00


Chuck Close: Scribble Book

LITTLE STEIDL
Edited by Jerry Sohn, Nina Holland.

Two Hardcover Accordions in Box , 13.5 x 11 in. / 48 pgs / illust. throughout. | 6/30/2010 | Out of stock
$150.00


    

OUT OF PRINT LISTING

Chuck Close: Self-Portraits 1967-2005

WALKER ART CENTER/SAN FRANCISCO MUSEUM OF MODERN ART
Essays by Siri Engberg, Madeleine Grynsztejn and Douglas R. Nickel. Foreword by Kathy Halbreich and Neal Benezra.

Hardcover, 9 x 11.5 in. / 152 pgs / 100 color / 50 bw. | 8/15/2005 | Not available
$34.95


Chuck Close

THE MUSEUM OF MODERN ART, NEW YORK
Edited by Robert Storr. Essays by Kirk Varnedoe and Deborah Wye. Foreword by Glenn D. Lowry.

Hardcover, 9.75 x 12 in. / 224 pgs / 113 color / 75 bw. | 9/2/2002 | Not available
$50.00


Chuck Close: Red, Yellow, and BlueChuck Close: Red, Yellow, and Blue

The Last Paintings

Published by Pace Publishing.
Introduction by Phong Bui. Text by Carter Ratcliff, Barbara Knappmeyer. Interview by Cindy Sherman.

Since the 1970s, Chuck Close (1940–2021) has been known for his innovative approach to conceptual portraiture, systematically transposing his subjects’ likenesses from photographs into gridded paintings. Published on the occasion of Pace Gallery’s first exhibition of the artist’s work since his death in 2021, Red, Yellow, and Blue spotlights Close’s final body of paintings, which employ a palette of only three colors. Layering transparent glazes of red, yellow and blue paint, Close created an effect of abstract likeness entirely different from that of his previous work. Alongside studio photography and images of Close’s mosaic works, this volume features a previously unpublished 2018 interview between Close and Cindy Sherman—originally commissioned by the Brooklyn Rail—as well as a new critical essay by Carter Ratcliff, which considers Close’s final works in depth. An additional essay by Barbara Knappmeyer examines the artist’s portraits in the context of facial recognition technology.



PUBLISHER
Pace Publishing

BOOK FORMAT
Paperback, 11.75 x 14.25 in. / 88 pgs / 63 color.

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Catalog: FALL 2024 p. 131   

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ISBN 9781948701709 TRADE
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Chuck Close: MosaicsChuck Close: Mosaics

Published by Silvana Editoriale.
Edited with text by Daniele Torcellini. Text by Giovanna Cassese, Senaldi, Carina Evangelista.

Chuck Close (born 1940) likes to push the boundaries of techniques, processes and materials of figurative depiction, working with various collaborators to achieve his vision. His first public artwork, Subway Portraits, featured a series of 12 mosaic and tile artworks commissioned by the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority Arts & Design program in 2017.

This book presents Chuck Close’s new series of mosaic artworks as well as related works, such as prints, tapestries and photographs. It also documents the production process of these works by fabricators Mosaika Art and Design and Magnolia Editions, as well as the 12 works they produced for the 86th St subway station in New York.



PUBLISHER
Silvana Editoriale

BOOK FORMAT
Paperback, 9.5 x 10.75 in. / 192 pgs / 80 color.

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Catalog: SPRING 2020 p. 138   

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ISBN 9788836645022 TRADE
List Price: $30.00 CAD $42.00

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in stock  $30.00


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Chuck Close: Scribble BookChuck Close: Scribble Book

Published by Little Steidl.
Edited by Jerry Sohn, Nina Holland.

When confronted with the opportunity to make a children's book, the internationally renowned painter, photographer and printmaker Chuck Close quickly took to the idea of a publication without words. Scribble Book, presented in two accordion-folded volumes, is a self-portrait that emerges incrementally from the printing process--one plate and one color at a time. In the first volume, the viewer follows a series of nine individual plate proofs; in the second, we follow along with a corresponding series of nine progressive proofs, culminating in a nine-color self-portrait. By comparing the plate proofs against the progressive proofs, the viewer can ascertain not only the cumulative effect as each color is added to create the final nine-color etching, but also the compositional decisions and modulations made by Close at each stage of the project. The two accordion-folded volumes are accompanied by a separate text in which the artist gives a personal account of the drawing process.

PUBLISHER
Little Steidl

BOOK FORMAT
Two Hardcover Accordions in Box , 13.5 x 11 in. / 48 pgs / illust. throughout.

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Active

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Catalog: FALL 2007 p. 36   

PRODUCT DETAILS
ISBN 9783865214928 TRADE
List Price: $150.00 CAD $200.00

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Out of stock

STATUS: Out of stock

Temporarily out of stock pending additional inventory.

Chuck Close: A Couple of Ways of Doing SomethingChuck Close: A Couple of Ways of Doing Something

Published by Aperture.
Interview by Lyle Rexer. Poetry by Bob Holman.

A Couple of Ways of Doing Something replicates a deluxe limited-edition portfolio whose initial run was only 75 copies. This clothbound edition preserves the luxurious sensibility of the original with 22 extraordinary oversized daguerreotypes printed in rich tritone. Working with daguerreotype master Jerry Spagnoli to conquer the complexities of this venerable process, which yields images of astonishing detail and gravity, Chuck Close photographed many of the same artist-friends who have made regular appearances in his paintings over the years: Laurie Anderson, Lyle Ashton Harris, Cecily Brown, Gregory Crewdson, Carroll Dunham, Ellen Gallagher, Philip Glass, Bob Holman, Elizabeth Murray, Elizabeth Peyton, Andres Serrano, Cindy Sherman, James Siena, Lorna Simpson, Kiki Smith, James Turrell, Robert Wilson, Terry Winters, Lisa Yuskavage and himself. Each image is complemented by a poem on its subject by Bob Holman, the celebrated and widely published New York School poet who originated and hosted the famous Poetry Slams at the Nuyorican Poets Cafe and now runs the Bowery Poetry Club. With the counterpoint of Holman's engaging poetry, the collected work becomes a transfixing group portrait of Close's influential and highly creative circle of friends and colleagues, as well as an exploration of a challenging photographic medium. A traveling exhibition of the work will launch in November 2006 at the Aperture Gallery.

PUBLISHER
Aperture

BOOK FORMAT
Clothbound, 12 x 15 in. / 56 pgs / 22 tritones.

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ISBN 9781597110181 TRADE
List Price: $50.00 CAD $60.00

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Chuck Close: Self-Portraits 1967-2005Chuck Close: Self-Portraits 1967-2005

Published by Walker Art Center/San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.
Essays by Siri Engberg, Madeleine Grynsztejn and Douglas R. Nickel. Foreword by Kathy Halbreich and Neal Benezra.

A celebrated, popular and influential figure in American art, Chuck Close has focused exclusively, and with great innovation, on the genre of portraiture. This exhibition, co-organized by the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, explores the artist's work in self-portraiture over four decades and across a variety of media, including painting, drawing, photography, collage, and printmaking. The first comprehensive museum survey of Close's self-portraits, the exhibition and its accompanying publication offer a fascinating glimpse of an artist's self-examination and evolution over time and elucidate his unbounded, process-driven experimentation with media and techniques. Working with the seemingly narrow subject of his own face, Close has produced a richly varied trove that ranges from intimately scaled collage maquettes and fingerprint drawings to monumental gridded canvases; from the sharp definition of certain photographic techniques to the ghostly blurs of daguerreotypes and holograms; from the tactile complexity of paper pulp editions to the smooth, mechanical surfaces of Polaroids and digital ink-jet prints; from the subtle tonalities of gray-scale paintings and drawings to the exuberance of an 111-color screenprint. When Close unleashes his imagination on his own visage, this familiar figure is at his most revealing.

PUBLISHER
Walker Art Center/San Francisco Museum of Modern Art

BOOK FORMAT
Hardcover, 9 x 11.5 in. / 152 pgs / 100 color / 50 bw.

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Pub Date
Out of print

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Catalog: FALL 2005 p. 12   

PRODUCT DETAILS
ISBN 9780935640809 TRADE
List Price: $34.95 CAD $40.00

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Not available

STATUS: Out of print | 5/1/2009

For assistance locating a copy, please see our list of recommended out of print specialists

Chuck CloseChuck Close

Published by The Museum of Modern Art, New York.
Edited by Robert Storr. Essays by Kirk Varnedoe and Deborah Wye. Foreword by Glenn D. Lowry.

The most comprehensive assessment of Chuck Close's work yet published, this volume accompanied a mid-career retrospective exhibition that opened at The Museum of Modern Art, New York, on February 25, 1998. A leading figure in the New York art world since the early 1970s, Close has recently concentrated on portraits of his artist friends and colleagues, characterized by colorful patterning and vivid brushwork. Subjects include Robert Rauschenberg, Roy Lichtenstein, Alex Katz, Kiki Smith, Lucas Samaras and Lorna Simpson. Here, more than 90 paintings, prints, drawings and photographs are reproduced, along with details and comparative illustrations.

PUBLISHER
The Museum of Modern Art, New York

BOOK FORMAT
Hardcover, 9.75 x 12 in. / 224 pgs / 113 color / 75 bw.

PUBLISHING STATUS
Pub Date
Out of print

DISTRIBUTION
D.A.P. Exclusive
Catalog: FALL 2002

PRODUCT DETAILS
ISBN 9780870700668 TRADE
List Price: $50.00 CAD $60.00

AVAILABILITY
Not available

STATUS: Out of print | 11/25/2008

For assistance locating a copy, please see our list of recommended out of print specialists

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