Phil/Fingerprint
- Printer
- Vermillion Editions Limited at Pace Editions, New York, Minneapolis, Minnesota, founded 1977
- Printer
- Richard Shore
- Date
- 1981
- Material
- Lithograph
- printed in
- Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States, North and Central America
- published in
- New York, New York, United States, North and Central America
- Classification
- Prints
- Collection
- Prints, Drawings, and Photographs
- Current Location
- Not on view
- Dimensions
- image: 42 1/4 × 31 3/4 in. (107.3 × 80.6 cm)
sheet (paper with deckled edges): 50 7/16 × 38 7/16 in. (128.1 × 97.6 cm)
framed: 54 7/8 × 42 7/8 in. (139.4 × 108.9 cm) - Credit Line
- Funds given by Centerre Bancorporation
- Rights
- © Chuck Close, courtesy Pace Gallery, New York
- Object Number
- 828:1983
NOTES
Phil/Fingerprint presented Chuck Close—and the printers at Vermillion Editions—with challenges. First, the entire image was composed using only the tip of Close’s finger. He dipped his finger in the greasy pigment known as tusche, which allows the image to be “fixed” on the lithographic stone or plate, and then he painstakingly composed the image on this surface. Because of the print’s large size, Vermillion had to partner with Close’s dealer, Pace Gallery, using its equipment in New York to print the edition.
Even though he reuses his source images many times over, Close avoids repeating himself. Each time he approaches the image afresh as a new problem to solve. In Phil/Fingerprint, he referenced a photograph of his friend, composer Philip Glass, taken 13 years earlier. The fresh task here was to create a portrait made entirely of fingerprints.
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