Oral history interview with Chuck Close
name: label: Interviewee
content: Close, Chuck, 1940-
label: Interviewer
content: Lyon, Christopher
topic: label: Topic
content: Painters -- New York (State) -- New York -- Interviews
label: Topic
content: Photographers -- New York (State) -- New York -- Interviews
acqinfo: label: Provenance
content: This interview is part of the Archives of American Art Oral History Program, started in 1958 to document the history of the visual arts in the United States, primarily through interviews with artists, historians, dealers, critics and administrators.
creator: label: Interviewee
content: Close, Chuck, 1940-
label: Interviewer
content: Lyon, Christopher
bioghist: label: Biographical / Historical
content: Chuck Close (1940- ) is a painter and photographer, in New York, New York. Christopher Lyon (1949- ) is a writer in Brooklyn, New York.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 2 Items (sound files (1 hr., 34 min.) Audio, digital, wav)
label: Extent
content: 19 Pages (Transcript)
phystech: label: System Details
content: Recorded on Tascam DR-100MKII R00030.
unitdate: label: Date
content: 2017 July 20
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives of American Art
identifier: label: Identifier
content: AAA.close17
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Pages
label: Type
content: Interviews
label: Type
content: Sound recordings
altformavail: label: Existence and Location of Copies
content: Transcript is available on the Archives of American Art's website.
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Interviews
label: Genre/Form
content: Sound recordings
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: An interview with Chuck Close conducted 2017 July 20, by Christopher Lyon, for the Archives of American Art, at Close's home and studio in Long Beach, New York.
label: Scope and Contents
content: Close speaks of his friendships with Robert Rauschenberg, Richard Serra, and other artists; his decision to explore the genre of portraiture; different methods of printmaking, photography, and painting that he employs; his friendship with Philip Glass; problems with his memory; his painting techniques since "The Event" (a spinal artery collapse which led to partial paralysis); his favorite early paintings; organizing his exhibition Head-On/The Modern Portrait; and his involvement with Turnaround Arts. Close also recalls Brice Marden, Vija Celmins, Janet Fish, Nancy Graves, Rackstraw Downes, Sol Lewitt, Paul Simon, Mark Greenwold, Debbie Wye, and others.