Don Bachardy

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Bachardy at nineteen (?), photo by Carl van Vechten (January 1954)
Bachardy at nineteen (?), photo by Carl van Vechten (January 1954)

Don Jess Bachardy (born May 18, 1934), is a noted portrait artist. He currently resides in Santa Monica, California.

Contents

[edit] 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-nine, 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.)

[edit] 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

[edit] 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

[edit] External links


Norman Rockwell This article about a painter from the United States is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.
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