Incredible large-format Polaroid portrait by Chuck Close of the painter and Dean of Art at Yale, David Pease, made as a gift for Pease’s 60th birthday. The two men were connected through Yale. Close earned his MFA at the Yale School of Art in 1964, and Pease was the school’s dean from 1983 to 1996, so this portrait dates from the middle of his time there. Pease was a painter in his own right. His work was shown in more than 250 exhibitions and is held by the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Yale University Art Gallery.  Close made pictures like this one with the rare 20 x 24 Polaroid camera. It produced a single print with no negative, so every image is one of a kind. Pease is shown close up in three-quarter view against a soft sage background. The lighting picks out every strand of his beard and every line of his face with the precision Close was known for. The print’s edges were never trimmed, so the Polaroid chemistry marks along the top and the emulsion borders on each side are still visible. The dedication is signed by the artist, his wife Leslie and their daughters. It makes the piece a personal record of the friendship between the two artists. The print came directly from Close to Pease and has stayed with the Pease family since. It has never been on the market before. The polaroid is newly float-mounted in a white wood shadowbox frame. Amazing piece. 

Located at our Los Angeles gallery.