Chuck Close American, b. 1940

Chuck CLose was born on July 5, 1940, in Monroe, Washington. Suffering from severe dyslexia, Close did poorly in school but found solace making art. After earning his M.F.A. from Yale in 1964, Close took his place atop the American art world by creating large-scale, photo-realist portraits that have creatively blurred the disctinction between photogaphy and painting.