I’m writing this in April. It’s hard to think about a summer exhibit when we’re in the midst of a wonderful show upstairs. Looking Forward, Looking Back: The Collection in Context asks us to consider the world around us through the work of several dozen artists – from William Bancroft’s lovely traditional 19th Century landscape to Pipo Nguyen-Duy’s beautiful/terrible Lazy Boy. It’s all a delight to see and a treat for the mind.Chuck Close, John, 1998, Color silkscreen, 64 ½ x 54 ½ inches. Collection of Doris and Donald Fisher.

When Faces: Chuck Close and Contemporary Portraiture opens in late June we’ll be looking at the idea of the portrait. Generally a portrait is thought of as a likeness of a person. Simple enough – until you see the work of these eleven artists!

It’s true that Chuck Close only does portraits, but in this show we’ll see the endless innovative approaches he takes. He begins with a photograph (generally a Polaroid or a daguerreotype!). The larger image is created by placing a grid over the photo and transferring the image, square by square, to the canvas. In his first large scale portraits Close worked with an airbrush in black and white to show minute details – pores, hairs, freckles. In the 1980s he began to use color and to allow the grid to remain visible. In 1988 he suffered what he calls The Event, when a weak blood vessel in his spinal column ruptured. He is confined to a wheelchair but has never stopped working, usually with a brush strapped to his hand. His colors became more vibrant from then on.

First he transfers the grid, which can be horizontal or diagonal, to the canvas, and then applies a continuous background color. Then each of the squares is filled in with what look like tiny abstract paintings in brilliant colors. When we step back our eyes mix the colors and a face appears. He spends months on each painting. In this show we will see all the other ways Close does portraits – always with a grid – with fingerprints, pastels, cast paper, and the amazing jacquard tapestries.Cindy Sherman, Untitled #193, 1989, Color photograph, 48 7/8 x 42 inches. Collection of Doris and Donald Fisher.

Close is joined in the show by Cindy Sherman who produces, directs, and acts in her own self-portraits, ranging here from a Marie Antoinette-like figure from her History Series to a tired fashion model after a shoot. Sam Taylor-Wood also photographs herself, in impossible poses, with the help of photographic artifice. Andy Warhol returns to the Museum with a double portrait of Dolly Parton. There are enigmatic portraits by several Conceptual artists that have no people in them at all! And, unlike Close, who only paints himself, his family, and close friends, Joel Sternfeld travels the United States and the world to find and photograph strangers with a story to tell. This show will challenge our common perceptions of portraiture with each artist’s distinct and very personal approach . Sounds like fun!