Who were Chuck Close's wives? Artist who faced sexual harassment allegations dies at 81
American painter, artist and photographer, Chuck Close, who was known for his large-scale Photorealist portraits passed away on Thursday, August 19. He was 81 years old. Close's attorney, John Silberman announced the news of his demise on Thursday, August 19. The artist died in a hospital in Oceanside, New York.
Chuck was diagnosed with Alzheimer's in 2013. However, the cause of his death was not clear at the moment. We recently reported the demise of many great names including Bill Freehan, Sonny Chiba, Joe Galloway, Maki Kaji and many more.
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Chuck was famously known for his oversized paintings of himself and people he knew during the '70s and '80s. His first and most famous painting was a self-portrait, a black and white image of himself with disheveled hair and a cigarette in his mouth. He created the hyperreal paintings using his signature technique of an airbrush and diluted black paint. Most of his early works were very large portraits based on photographs, using Photorealism or Hyperrealism, of family and friends and often other artists.
Chuck was followed by sexual harassment allegations in December 2017, when two women who modeled for him claimed he made vulgar comments to them after inviting them to his studio. Chuck issued an apology in response to the accusations, and said, "If I embarrassed anyone or made them feel uncomfortable, I am truly sorry, I didn't mean to." In January 2018, four more women accused him of harassment. After his Alzheimer’s diagnosis in 2013, Chuck's doctor later said that his sexually inappropriate behavior could be attributed to the illness.
Born in Monroe, Washington, Chuck suffered from a neuromuscular condition that made it difficult to lift his feet and a bout with nephritis because of which he was out of school for most of the sixth grade. Chuck was also diagnosed with Dyslexia and prosopagnosia (face blindness). The artist often suggested that his condition of prosopagnosia is what first inspired him to do portraits. Prosopagnosia is a condition that makes humans unable to recognize faces. Speaking of the same, Chuck once said, "I was not conscious of making a decision to paint portraits because I have difficulty recognizing faces. That occurred to me twenty years after the fact when I looked at why I was still painting portraits, why that still had urgency for me. I began to realize that it has sustained me for so long because I have difficulty in recognizing faces."
Who was Chuck Close married to?
Chuck was married to Leslie Rose with whom he has two daughters. The couple divorced in 2011. He then married artist Sienna Shields in 2013. He included his second wife as a subject in his 2017 series 'Subway Portraits'. However, by the time, the couple was divorced. Sienna, 45, is an American abstract artist. She was the chief organizer of the 'HowDoYouSayYaminAfrican?' artist collective and the director of its digital work, 'Good Stock on the Dimension Floor: An Opera'.