Terrie Sultan Remembers Her Friendship With Chuck Close

My friendship with Chuck Close extends for more than 25 years, through two exhibitions, two books and dozens of talks and interviews.

“Chuck Close Prints: Process and Collaboration,” which I organized while director of the Blaffer Art Museum at the University of Houston, became a traveling show that was hosted by more than a dozen prestigious museums internationally. It reached so many venues over such a long period of time that Chuck called the project “the ‘Cats’ of the art world.”

His support for me professionally was life changing. His openness and willingness to allow me full access to all the master printers with whom he worked, and to be present during the making of several of his most challenging projects, was unprecedented. It was Chuck who encouraged me to come to the Parrish Art Museum and it was his and Leslie Close’s encouragement and support that led me to the success I enjoyed there for 12 years.

Chuck was an immensely talented artist who possessed vast curiosity and an unlimited capacity for experimentation and risk-taking in his work. He was also generous in spirit and willing to share the “secrets” of the studio. While working with him on “Chuck Close Prints” I learned much about the intricate methodology of his various printmaking techniques, and yet each finished work of art maintained the mystery of “how did he do that?” That is the magic of his artistry.

Chuck is the only artist I am aware of who was the subject of a cartoon in the New Yorker (Michael Crawford’s “He’s big but he’s no Chuck Close,” April 26, 1993) and in the daily comic strip “Get Fuzzy” by Darby Conley (“Let’s just say you are no Chuck Close.” “Well…I bet I’m Chuck Close enough,” January 6, 2017). These cultural references made me laugh, but more importantly, demonstrated the enormous impact Chuck had not only in the art world, but the world at large.

The contributions he made in the dialogue of contemporary American art remain very significant. Perhaps even more important, though, was his role as a good citizen of the art world, through his service on boards (the Whitney Museum of American Art, The Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation) and through the encouragement he gave to so many artists over more than four decades.

I will always credit Chuck with giving me the wherewithal to expand my expectations of what my work as a curator, and later as a museum director, could be. I will be forever grateful for the experience of working with him and engaging with him over the years. He was a great friend and colleague, and he will be missed.

Terrie Sultan was the director of the Parrish Art Museum in Water Mill from 2008 to 2020.