Untitled Torso (K.W.), 2000
Two daguerreotypes (diptych), each 8 x 6 1/8 in. (20.3 x 15.6 cm)
Purchased with a gift from Peggy and Richard M. Danziger, LL.B 1963, and the Annual Fund
2001.20.1a-b
© Courtesy Chuck Close
This is one of a series of daguerreotypes that Chuck Close, in collaboration with daguerreotypist Jerry Spangoli, has made in recent years. Close has used photographs as the basis of his canvases since the 1960s, and the integration of photography into his painting has been fundamental to our revised understanding of the interaction of the two media, and of the nature of portraiture as well. In the 1970s this interaction became even more profound when Close began to use 24 x 20 in. Polaroids of his subjects as the direct models for his canvases—the Polaroid offered him an image of his subject taken "mid-action" that was also relentless in its detail. The daguerreotype was a natural next step: also a non-negative process, yielding just one highly detailed positive (like the Polaroid) but with a difference. Unlike the Polaroid, the daguerreotype has a long history, as well as a sense of optical play embedded in its very structure, both of which give it an unparalleled charm, mystery, and dimensionality.
 |
 |
 |