Chuck Close

American, born 1940

Janet, 1992

Oil on canvas
100 x 84 inches (254 x 213.4 cm)
George B. and Jenny R. Mathews Fund, 1992

This is a portrait by Chuck Close of painter Janet Fish, a friend of his from Yale University. Fish remembered arriving at his studio without high hopes for the result, preparing herself for a "not so wonderful" image. In the end, she was very pleased, saying he had captured, "sparkle that I liked, a jump, and the way things moved very fast. That is something that I feel involved with in painting, so I think I was relating to that a lot." Close said he was not thinking about her art, but was instead interested in creating "with the strong darks and lights this kind of sparkly, almost liquid effect."

The process began with a photograph, which was enlarged to the size of the canvas. An identical grid was drawn on each one. He started in the upper left hand corner, continuing to the upper right and then starting the second line of squares and so on. Rather than copying the photograph precisely, however, each square is an individual abstract composition made up of different shapes. When standing close to the painting, it is hard to discern Janet; the further back you move, the clearer she becomes.

Related Lesson Plan

Playing with the Grid (For Grades 3–8)

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