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Home>Yes No Maybe Introduction>Yes No Maybe Close Introduction>Yes No Maybe Close Keith

# 

Exhibition Introduction

Note to the ReaderAcknowledgments

IntroductionKeithJohnLeslieSelf-Portrait

IntroductionTouched RedGreenCombinationHigh Green Version 1

Introduction17 Drawings by ThoreauSeven Day Diary (Not Knowing)Changes and DisappearancesWhere R=RyoanjiFireThe Missing Stone 75 StonesEninkaStonesWhere There is Where There

IntroductionAnne ApplebyPia FriesDarren AlmondSusan MiddletonJoel FisherBrad BrownTom Marioni

IntroductionMamma AnderssonSol LeWittFred WilsonRobert BechtleKiki Smith

IntroductionJulie MehretuWayne ThiebaudJockum NordströmTomma AbtsNathan OliveiraChris Ofili

IntroductionPat SteirLaura OwensWayne ThiebaudAmy Sillman

# Chuck Close, Keith, 1970–1972

Chuck Close, Keith, 1970–1972
*Study for Keith*1970gelatin silver photograph on two joined sheets of paperwith ink, crayon, graphite, and paint additions; overlaidwith plastic squared for transfer; adhered to paperboardbacking with masking tapebacking: 22 × 17 (55.9 × 43.2)The Dorothy and Herbert Vogel Collection© Chuck Close, Courtesy Pace Gallery

Chuck Close, Keith, 1970–1972
*Keith*(working proof)1972mezzotintplate: 44 11⁄16 × 35 5⁄16 (113.5 × 89.7)sheet: 47 11⁄16 × 36 5⁄8 (121.1 × 93)Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, Foundationpurchase, Phyllis C. Wattis Fund for Major Acquisitions© Chuck Close, Courtesy Pace Gallery

Chuck Close, Keith, 1970–1972
*Keith*1972mezzotintplate: 44 11⁄16 × 35 5⁄16 (113.5 × 89.7)sheet: 50 15⁄16 × 41 13⁄16 (129.4 × 106.2)Collection of Catherine Woodard and Nelson Blitz Jr.© Chuck Close, Courtesy Pace Gallery

Chuck Close, Keith, 1970–1972
Detail, *Study for Keith*1970gelatin silver photograph on two joined sheets of paperwith ink, crayon, graphite, and paint additions; overlaidwith plastic squared for transfer; adhered to paperboardbacking with masking tapebacking: 22 × 17 (55.9 × 43.2)The Dorothy and Herbert Vogel Collection© Chuck Close, Courtesy Pace Gallery

Chuck Close, Keith, 1970–1972
Detail, *Keith*(working proof)1972mezzotintplate: 44 11⁄16 × 35 5⁄16 (113.5 × 89.7)sheet: 47 11⁄16 × 36 5⁄8 (121.1 × 93)Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, Foundationpurchase, Phyllis C. Wattis Fund for Major Acquisitions© Chuck Close, Courtesy Pace Gallery

Chuck Close, Keith, 1970–1972
Detail, *Keith*1972mezzotintplate: 44 11⁄16 × 35 5⁄16 (113.5 × 89.7)sheet: 50 15⁄16 × 41 13⁄16 (129.4 × 106.2)Collection of Catherine Woodard and Nelson Blitz Jr.© Chuck Close, Courtesy Pace Gallery

Chuck Close burnishing the plate for *Keith*, 1972, photograph by Kathan Brown, Courtesy Crown Point Press

Close’s first project at Crown Point Press was a massive-scale, labor-intensive mezzotint, an antiquated printmaking technique he had never attempted. In mezzotint, an artist roughens the plate’s surface so that it will print as a velvety black, then “draws” with a burnishing tool to smooth areas that will hold less ink and print lighter. Close squared up a 1970 photograph and incised a corresponding grid on the copperplate to facilitate enlargement and transfer.

Proof impressions of *Keith*, 1972, photograph by Kathan Brown, Courtesy Crown Point Press

Because he had difficulty seeing his marks on the shiny metallic surface and because he was learning by trial and error, numerous proofs (see photograph at left) had to be pulled frequently to monitor progress. As a result, the center of the plate degraded and the grid became more visible. Close retained the grid as evidence of his process, a seminal choice for his subsequent work in all media. “After finishing *Keith*, I started doing [works] in which the incremental unit was visible and ultimately celebrated in a million different ways. That all came from making this print.”

Banner image: Detail, Chuck Close, *John* (proof for unpublished print), 1972, color photo-etching on wove paper, Gift of Kathan Brown © Chuck Close, Courtesy Pace Gallery

Next: Chuck Close, *John*, 1972

"Yes, No, Maybe: The Art of Making Decisions," lecture by exhibition curators Judith Brodie and Adam Greenhalgh (audio)Julie Mehretu, artist, in conversation with curator Judith Brodie, Diamonstein-Spielvogel lecture (audio)"An Insider's Perspective," lecture by Kathan Brown, founder of Crown Point Press (audio)

Exhibition tour by curators Judith Brodie and Adam Greenhalgh (audio)

Chuck Close in the collection of the National Gallery of Art

Crown Point Press prints in the collection of the National Gallery of Art

 

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