Cindy
2000
Image not available — this artwork is under copyright
View on museum website →Medium
daguerreotype
Dimensions
image: 20.48 × 15.4 cm (8 1/16 × 6 1/16 in.) frame: 31.75 × 26.67 × 12.07 cm (12 1/2 × 10 1/2 × 4 3/4 in.)
Classification
Photograph
Department
CPH
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Corcoran Collection (Museum Purchase)
Accession Number
2015.19.5294
Art Historical Context
Chuck Close's *Cindy* (2000) is a striking daguerreotype portrait that revives a 19th-century photographic for contemporary portraiture. Measuring just over 20 x 15 cm, this intimate image captures its subject with extraordinary detail and luminous depth, characteristic of the daguerreotype's silvered copper plate technique. Invented by Louis Daguerre in 1839, the medium produces unique, one-of-a-kind positives known for their mirror-like precision—qualities Close exploited to push the boundaries of photorealism. As a leading figure in the Photorealist movement of the 1960s and '70s, Close tr...
About the Artist
Chuck Close
Chuck Close, born Charles Thomas Close on July 5, 1940, in Monroe, Washington, overcame significant early challenges including undiagnosed dyslexia, prosopagnosia (face blindness), a neuromuscular disorder, and nephritis that sidelined him from school. Art became his refuge; he honed his skills through private lessons and live model drawing. Close studied at Everett Community College before earnin...