"One of the most admired and innovative contemporary artists working today, Chuck Close has pioneered ideas of scale, form, and color through the theme of portraiture, a genre that he has fundamentally redefined. Although Close has painted himself far more often than any of his other subjects, the majority of those other subjects have been fellow artists. This book details more than thirty years of Close's remarkable career, exploring the evolution of both his self-portraits and portraits of other artists and the compelling man behind them. Written by Martin Friedman, former director of the Walker Art Center and Close's longtime friend, Close Reading is an intimate study of one of the art world's most valued members." "Divided into three sections, the book begins with a comprehensive biography of Close that describes his childhood and college years, his struggles with learning disabilities, the origins and perfecting of his near-photographic painting technique, his sudden illness in 1988, which led to almost complete paralysis, and the degree of recovery that enabled him to continue his painting career." "The second section is an examination of Close's self-portraiture, not only in paintings but in other mediums as well. Discussions and illustrations include paintings, drawings, prints, and photographs that trace the development of the self-portraits from insistently neutral renditions of increasingly expressionistic ones." "The final section addresses Close's paintings of artists, including Lucas Samaras, Cindy Sherman, Francesco Clemente, Alex Katz, and William Wegman, who are also known for making self-portraits. Illustrated by examples of Close's paintings of them, as well as by works by the artists themselves, the text includes Close's insightful comments about this body of his work. Also included are Friedman's conversations with the artist subjects, which reveal much about Close's accomplishments, as well as the subjects' experiences sitting for Close and their observations about their own self-portraiture."--BOOK JACKET.