Final signed proof from Self-Portrait/Scribble/Etching Portfolio, 2000

Chuck Close has been making self-portraits since the late 1960s. These efforts are invariably based on photographs that he makes of himself and famously translates into paintings, drawings, prints, and other media—typically a methodical, labor-intensive process. His investment in such processes forms the subject of his Self-Portrait/Scribble/Etching Portfolio, 2000, a set of twenty-five prints that illustrates the steps required to produce a single, twelve-color etching. It is also the focus of this exhibition, which uses that portfolio as a lens through which to examine the intersections and parallels that structure Close's artistic ideas.

The exhibition is accompanied by a full-color catalogue featuring an interview with the artist by Colgate President Rebecca Chopp, art collector Paul Schupf '58, and former Picker Art Gallery Director Elizabeth Barker. The catalogue also includes an essay on the Self-Portrait/Scribble/Etching Portfolio, 2000, by Visiting Curator Anne Monahan, and an exhibition checklist.

Following its installation at the Picker Art Gallery, the exhibition will travel to the Mead Art Museum, Amherst College (November 16, 2007 - March 18, 2008) and the Colby College Museum of Art, Waterville, Maine (May 1, 2008 - September 21, 2008).