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Stars in My Eyes
Stars in My Eyes is a revealing and entertaining collection of celebrity portraits, rendered both in acute drawings and in finely observed prose. In the 1970s and 1980s, internationally known artist Don Bachardy made portraits from life, depicting the actors, writers, artists, composers, directors, and Hollywood elite that he and his partner Christopher Isherwood knew. He then made detailed notes about these portrait sittings in the journal he has kept for more than forty years. The result is a unique we enter the mind of the artist as he records the images and behavior of his celebrity subjects—from Ruby Keeler and Barbara Stanwyck to Jack Nicholson and Linda Ronstadt—during their often intense collaboration with him. Finalist, Lambda Book Award
274 pages, Paperback
First published September 7, 2000
About the author
Don Bachardy
21 books4 followersDonald Jess "Don" Bachardy (born May 18, 1934) is an American portrait artist. He resides in Santa Monica, California. Bachardy was the life partner of writer Christopher Isherwood.
Born in Los Angeles, California, Bachardy studied at the Chouinard Art Institute in Los Angeles and the Slade School of Art in London. His first one-man exhibition was held in October 1961 at the Redfern Gallery in London. He met the writer Christopher Isherwood on Valentine's Day 1953, when he was 18 and Isherwood was 48. They remained together 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, titled Chris & Don: A Love Story, was released in 2008.
Six books of his work have been published. His life and works are also 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 number one best-seller in Los Angeles. Bachardy's most haunting and eloquent published collection, "Last Drawings of Christopher Isherwood" in 1990 contains the dying and deceased Isherwood for the last time in his eyes.
One of Bachardy's most notable works is the official gubernatorial portrait of Jerry Brown that hangs in the California State Capitol Museum.
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
The Animals: Love Letters Between Christopher Isherwood and Don Bachardy, edited by Katherine Bucknell. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, New York 2014. ISBN 9780374105174
BibliographyEdit
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
The film, Chris & Don: A Love Story (2008)[3]
Lee Prosser: Isherwood, Bowles, Vedanta, Wicca, and Me, (2001), ISBN 0-595-20284-5
Born in Los Angeles, California, Bachardy studied at the Chouinard Art Institute in Los Angeles and the Slade School of Art in London. His first one-man exhibition was held in October 1961 at the Redfern Gallery in London. He met the writer Christopher Isherwood on Valentine's Day 1953, when he was 18 and Isherwood was 48. They remained together 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, titled Chris & Don: A Love Story, was released in 2008.
Six books of his work have been published. His life and works are also 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 number one best-seller in Los Angeles. Bachardy's most haunting and eloquent published collection, "Last Drawings of Christopher Isherwood" in 1990 contains the dying and deceased Isherwood for the last time in his eyes.
One of Bachardy's most notable works is the official gubernatorial portrait of Jerry Brown that hangs in the California State Capitol Museum.
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
The Animals: Love Letters Between Christopher Isherwood and Don Bachardy, edited by Katherine Bucknell. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, New York 2014. ISBN 9780374105174
BibliographyEdit
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
The film, Chris & Don: A Love Story (2008)[3]
Lee Prosser: Isherwood, Bowles, Vedanta, Wicca, and Me, (2001), ISBN 0-595-20284-5
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
February 21, 2024
If you are fascinated by celebrity (as I am), you will find this book very entertaining. Don Bachardy is an artist who has drawn or painted hundreds of individuals since the 1950s. Most of his subjects are from the film world. He was fascinated by film stars since childhood and this book is a collection of portraits he did in the early 70s. Bachardy's style is highly realistic but can also be unflattering with every line and furrow in a face finely drawn.
In this book, he recounts sittings with famous stars, most of them from the classic era but some contemporaries from the 70s as well. Most of the portraits were done at the subject's homes, which he describes as well as details and conversations that took place. They range from the friendly and accommodating (Bette Davis, Ginger Rogers, Myrna Loy), the indifferent (Alice Faye, Charlotte Rampling) and the downright rude and hostile (Joan Fontaine, Helmut Newton). I found every profile interesting, especially the subject's reaction to the result.
Other profiles in the book include Barbara Stanwyck, Jack Nicholson, Paulette Goddard, Maggie Smith, Louise Brooks, Mia Farrow, Laurence Olivier, Joan Blondell, Jerry Brown, Henry Fonda, Olivia de Havilland, Alec Guinness, Ingrid Bergman, Linda Ronstadt and more.
In this book, he recounts sittings with famous stars, most of them from the classic era but some contemporaries from the 70s as well. Most of the portraits were done at the subject's homes, which he describes as well as details and conversations that took place. They range from the friendly and accommodating (Bette Davis, Ginger Rogers, Myrna Loy), the indifferent (Alice Faye, Charlotte Rampling) and the downright rude and hostile (Joan Fontaine, Helmut Newton). I found every profile interesting, especially the subject's reaction to the result.
Other profiles in the book include Barbara Stanwyck, Jack Nicholson, Paulette Goddard, Maggie Smith, Louise Brooks, Mia Farrow, Laurence Olivier, Joan Blondell, Jerry Brown, Henry Fonda, Olivia de Havilland, Alec Guinness, Ingrid Bergman, Linda Ronstadt and more.
July 10, 2008
The book consists of edited diary excerpts regarding the various movie stars that have sat for Don Bachardy. I have never read any works by Chris Isherwood, but his influence over Bachardy is clear even in these little stories. After reading three or four, the tales start to blend together, but Barchardy's descriptions of his idols are still charming and interesting throughout.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews