Lot Essay
Self-Portrait Maquette, executed in 1968, provides the source imagery for one of Close's earliest self-portraits, Self-Portrait/58, 424, a work on paper he would complete five years later.
Unlike the Pop artists who worked from found images and photographs, Close chose a highly intentional and rigorous method, using his own photography as the basis for his explorations of texture and detail on a grand scale. By making the grid more explicit in Self-Portrait/58, 424, Close reveals his process, and presages the mosaic effect he would achieve later in his career.
As the creative essence through which Close is able to explore visual possibilities, these maquettes become important works on paper in their own right, showing the incredible skill and patience he used to redefine the language of portraiture.
Unlike the Pop artists who worked from found images and photographs, Close chose a highly intentional and rigorous method, using his own photography as the basis for his explorations of texture and detail on a grand scale. By making the grid more explicit in Self-Portrait/58, 424, Close reveals his process, and presages the mosaic effect he would achieve later in his career.
As the creative essence through which Close is able to explore visual possibilities, these maquettes become important works on paper in their own right, showing the incredible skill and patience he used to redefine the language of portraiture.