Canyon Resident Don Bachardy: Retrospective at the Huntington

A major retrospective of Canyon resident Don Bachardy’s work will open at The Huntington Library, Art Museum and Botanical Gardens on Saturday.

More than 100 graphite and acrylic works of art as well as photos and letters will be featured, including a range of portraits of well-known figures, such as Aldous Huxley, Dorothy Parker, Igor Stravinsky, Joan Didion, Ed Ruscha, Jack Nicholson, Allen Ginsberg, Katherine Hepburn, Elton John, and Francis Bacon. 

Bachardy’s life partner, author Christopher Isherwood, was also a frequent subject of his portraiture, and some of this art will also be on display. Before Isherwood’s death in 1986, he not only encouraged Bachardy’s work, but “gave him access to an illustrious group of portrait sitters,” according to Craig Krull, whose Craig Krull Gallery has represented Bachardy for the last 20 years.

“Don always regarded the quality of his portraiture as more important than the notoriety of [the] sitter,” Krull wrote in a press release about the exhibit. “He did however acknowledge that a recognizable face would better demonstrate his ability to create a likeness. He considered his portraits a collaboration between himself and his subject, asking the sitters to sign the works at the end of a session.”

Don Bachardy, Teri Garr, 1979, Acrylic on paper, 26 x 40 in. Photo courtesy of Craig Krull Gallery.

Bachardy began drawing as a teenager and continues to create art today, according to the Huntington website. Growing up, he loved the movies, and he and his brother photographed themselves at movie premieres with film stars, including Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, and Marilyn Monroe. Some of these snapshots are part of the exhibition.

“At a time when many American artists were focused on abstraction or conceptual art, Don was committed to drawing from life, a craft he honed through making thousands of portraits over the decades,” Huntington curator Dennis Carr said. “We intend to trace key moments from his fascinating biography alongside his artistic evolution—most dramatically, his shift from intense, intimate monochromatic portraits to his bold use of color.”

The exhibition, Don Bachardy: A Life in Portraits, includes a selection from over 17,000 portraits, and will be in the MaryLou and George Boone Gallery from Apr. 12 through Aug. 4. Visit www.huntington.org for more information.

Don Bachardy, James Baldwin, 1964, Pencil on paper, 29 x 23 in. Photo courtesy of Craig Krull Gallery.