Chuck Close Is Accused of Harassment. Should His Artwork Carry an Asterisk?
Mr. Close has called the allegations “lies” and said he is “being crucified.”
The postponement news on Thursday has raised difficult questions about what to do with the paintings
and photographs of Mr. Close — held by museums like the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Tate in London and the Pompidou in Paris, as well as by high-spending private collectors — and whether the work of other artists accused of questionable conduct needs to be revisited or recontextualized.
“That is a creative force that’s got to be reckoned with and will endure.”
The National Gallery had planned to feature about two dozen paintings, photographs
and works on paper by Mr. Close as part of a rotating series of installations called “In the Tower.”
The museum’s decision to cancel the show — its Close painting “Fanny/Fingerpainting” will remain on view — may have been influenced by the fact
that the National Gallery gets 72 percent of its $164 million budget from the federal government, which tends to avoid courting controversy.
“If we only see abuse when looking at a work of art, then we have created a reductive situation in which art is stripped of its intrinsic worth —
and which in turn provokes the fundamental question of what the museum’s role in the world should be.”
His immense photographic paintings — the best known of which depict leading cultural figures like the composer Philip Glass
and President Bill Clinton (who in 2000 presented Mr. Close with the National Medal of Arts) — have been acclaimed as both technically realistic and emotionally expressive.
