Chuck close biography self portrait with cigarette

Chuck Close, the acclaimed American artist known for his stunning photorealist portraits, died last Thursday at age 81.

As Ken Johnson and Robin Pogrebin report for the New York Times, the painter died of congestive heart failure in a hospital in Oceanside, New York.

He’d gained fame in the 1970s and ’80s by creating larger-than-life portraits of himself, his family and his friends, but faced accusations of sexual harassment later in his career.

“Chuck Close was a groundbreaking artist who moved the genre of portraiture in bold new directions,” says Dorothy Moss, curator of painting and sculpture at the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery, to Smithsonian magazine.

“He was a good friend of the [gallery] for decades and his work paved the way for artists and art historians to think broadly about portraiture’s relevance and impact in the contemporary world.”

Born in Monroe, Washington, in 19