Don Bachardy
Don Bachardy | |
|---|---|
_-_1954_foto_Van_Vechten.jpg) Bachardy at 19 - Photo by Carl van Vechten (January 1954) | |
| Nationality | American |
| Known for | portrait artist |
Donald Jess Bachardy (born May 18, 1934 in Los Angeles, California) is an American portrait artist. He currently resides in Santa Monica, California.
Life and work
Born in Los Angeles, California, Bachardy was the life partner of writer Christopher Isherwood, whom he met on Valentine's Day 1953, when he was eighteen and Isherwood was forty-eight, until Isherwood's death in 1986. A number of paperback editions of Isherwood's novels feature Bachardy's pencil portraits of the author. A film about their relationship entitled Chris & Don: A Love Story was released in 2008.
Bachardy's life and works are documented in Terry Sanders' film The Eyes of Don Bachardy. He collaborated with Isherwood on Frankenstein: The True Story (1973). His book Stars in My Eyes (2000), about celebrated people whom he had painted, became a best-seller in Los Angeles.
One of his most notable works is the official gubernatorial portrait of Governor Jerry Brown hanging in the California State Capitol. (The California state official biography page for Governor Jerry Brown features a photograph of the painting.)
Most recently, Bachardy made a cameo in the movie based on Isherwood's book "A Single Man" (starring Colin Firth)-- he is shown as a professor in the teacher's lounge, to whom Firth says "Hello Don". [1] Bachardy told Angeleno Magazine in their December, 2009 issue "Chris got the idea for that book when he and I were having a domestic crisis. We'd been together 10 years. I was making a lot of trouble and wondering if I shouldn't be on my own. Chris was going through a very difficult period (as well). So he killed off my character, Jim, in the book and imagined what his life would be without me."
Bachardy still lives in Isherwood's Santa Monica home (his place of residence for over 50 years), where he paints portraits for gallery shows and on a commission basis.
Works
- Frankenstein: The True Story. 1973 (with Christopher Isherwood)
- October / O. Methuen, London 1983 (with Christopher Isherwood), ISBN 0-413-50040-3
- One Hundred Drawings. Twelvetrees Press, Los Angeles 1983
- 70 x 1 Drawings. Illuminati, 1983
- Drawings of the male nude. Twelvetrees Press, Pasadena 1985, ISBN 0-942642-18-X
- Christopher Isherwood: Last drawings. Faber and Faber, London/Boston 1990, ISBN 0-571-14075-0 (mit John Russell, Stephen Spender)
- Short cuts: the screenplay. Capra Press, Santa Barbara 1993 (with Robert Altmann, Frank Barhydt), ISBN 0-88496-378-0
- The Portrait. Imprenta Glorias, 1997
- Stars In My Eyes. University of Wisconsin Press, Madison 2000, ISBN 0-299-16730-5
Bibliography
- Peter Parker, Isherwood: A Life (2004)
- Daniel Curzon: Remembering Christopher Isherwood and Don Bachardy. In: Harrington Gay Men's Fiction Quarterly. Volume 6 (2004), Issue 1
- Chris & Don: a Love story (2008) [2]
- Lee Prosser: Isherwood, Bowles, Vedanta, Wicca, and Me, (2001), ISBN 0-595-20284-5
References
External links
- The Eyes of Don Bachardy (American Film Foundation)
- Portraits by Don Bachardy
- Nudes by Don Bachardy
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