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Lot Essay
In a penetrating analysis of Close's maquettes, Robert Storr has written:
"At first glance the Polaroids the artist works from resemble a driver's license or passport photo. Patiently scrutinized in Close's manner, they could not be more different. Far denser visually as a consequence of superior cameras and film, they are imposing in a way I.D. pictures can never be. Inherently grand in scale and aura even when the format is small and the features they record seem unremarkable, these "maquettes," as the artist calls them, are a primary product of his sensibility rather than a casually arrived at notational resource" (R. Storr, Chuck Close, exh. cat., Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1998, p. 22).
"At first glance the Polaroids the artist works from resemble a driver's license or passport photo. Patiently scrutinized in Close's manner, they could not be more different. Far denser visually as a consequence of superior cameras and film, they are imposing in a way I.D. pictures can never be. Inherently grand in scale and aura even when the format is small and the features they record seem unremarkable, these "maquettes," as the artist calls them, are a primary product of his sensibility rather than a casually arrived at notational resource" (R. Storr, Chuck Close, exh. cat., Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1998, p. 22).