Don Bachardy interviewed at LACMA

Eighty-year-old American portrait artist Don Bachardy was interviewed and signed his newest book of portraits at Los Angeles County Museum of Art on Sunday, the 28th.  Bachardy was the life partner of writer Christopher Isherwood who he met on Santa Monica Beach when Bachardy was 18 and Isherwood was 48.  They remained together until Isherwood's death in 1986.  Bachardy still lives in the Santa Monica beach house that they shared.

Bachardy was the portrait artist to the Hollywood stars.  One of his most viewed paintings is that of Governor Jerry Brown that was painted after the completion is Brown's first years as governor in 1978.  It hangs along with all the other California governor portraits in the state Capitol.  A photo of it is below.

Bachardy grew up in the Atwater district of L.A.  He met the Hollywood elite through his partner who was from England.  He said he developed an English accent after about a year living together.
Bachardy's works reside in the permanent collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the de Young museum in San Francisco, the Huntington Library and art Gallery, UCLA, Smithsonian, and the National Portrait Gallery in London.

Bachardy was interviewed by the woman whose nude painting is below.  She was clothed.  He talked about his experience painting Shelly Winters (in a smock and eating blue berry pie), Robert Maplethorp (with an accidental drop of ink on the chin of his portrait that Robert liked because he looked like a vampire), Charles Laughton in the hospital (he kept moving around), Jimmy Stewart's daughters (he kicks himself for not asking Jimmy to do his portrait), and Marlene Dietrich.  She came to his beach house for her portrait driven by Bachardy in Chris' VW Bug.  She wore a white suit.

More recently he was asked to do a portrait of Angelina Jolie, nude, during each of the trimesters of her pregnancy.  This was arranged by her mother Marcheline Bertrand.  Her father is Jon Voight. He did the first portrait in L.A.  For the second trimester he was flown to Paris to complete it.  The thrid was done in Namibia.  Brad Pitt joined the session, took off his clothes and Bachardy sketched both of them.

Below are a few of his works and a picture of him during the book signing:

The interviewer's portrait

Bachardy signing his book for a customer.

Recent photo

Self portrait

Portrait of Governor Jerry Brown after his first 8 years as California's chief in the 1979's

Jess, Robert Duncan and Their Circle

On Thursday the 25th, I visited the Pasadena Museum of California Art to view the exhibit that  is entitled "An Opening of the Field:  Jess, Robert Duncan and Their Circle."  This exhibt features the life of Jess Collins (1923-2004) and Robert Duncan) in their Victorian Mission District home in San Francisco in the 1950's and the 1960's.  Jess was the painter and Robert the poet.  They have been referred to as bohemians who welcomed many to join in their creative group of artists.  The exhibit includes paintings, sculptures, drawings and films by 28 members of the circle.

Jess was trained as a chemist and worked during WW II on a government project that produced plutonium for atom bombs.  He quit this job and turned to art.  Duncan was the extrovert who was often teaching and giving poetry readings.  Jess stayed home, tended the garden and made art.

There is a video of their life in the Victorian House which was full of books and artwork and shows them moving around the house and receiving visitors.

Jess is know for his collages composed from cut-up book and magazine illustrations and comic strips frequently on homosexual subjects with themes of love and chaos.  He often used crayon as did Robert Duncan, his life partner for nearly 40 years.  Thirty of the shows 169 objects are by Jess.  Other artists featured besides Duncan are Helen Adam, William McNeill, Lyn Brown, Jack Spicer, Michael McClure, Robert Creeley, Jack Olson, and Virginia Admiral, wife of Robert De Niro Sr, an mother of their actor-son.

Here are a few samples of what I saw:

"To Corbett" 1951 by Jess

"Feignting Spell,"  by Jess

"Brockway's Breakfast in a Paris Lodging," 1951 by Lyn Brown 

"Sent On The Vllth Wave," 1979, by Jess.  Collage and mixed media.

"Portrait of Duncan," 1965 by Jess, showing Duncan sitting at their home.

"Untitled," by Robert Duncan, crayon on paper

Pasadena AxS Festival

On Thursday, I visited a large patch of grass on the corner of Orange Grove and Colorado (site of bleachers for the Rose Bowl parade around January 1st) to view a couple of temporary art installations that is a part of the AxS, Pasadena Arts and Science festival.

I first visited Metamorphosis, a "dynamic sculpture depicts the birth of a comet's atmosphere on its journey around the sun."  It is a large steel ball with holes for water sprays to come out of it.  At the time I visited, it was "jacked up" as someone crawled under it to get inside to adjust the water sprays for better effect.

The second installation is called "Sphaerae" which was designed by Dutch Artist Cocky Eek.  the dome is inside 47  feet wide and 12 feet tall when fully inflated.  The Sphaerae will house "immersive, experimental art and performance events that explore light, sound and movement."  More than 40 artists will appear in the dome like structure over the period of the installation.  It is also air conditioned and has an expensive sound system that can host 180 degree video projections.  When I walked inside the Sphaerae, I heard recordings of the Amazon jungle.  It can hold 100 audience members setting on the floor.  At the time of my visit, one person was laying on the floor taking in the jungle sounds.

This is the North American debut of Sphaerae. It is a part of Pasadena's AxS Festival 2014, a 17 day city wide event exploring the intersection of art and science.  This year's theme is "Curiosity."

Sphaerae on the lawn across from the Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena

Inside Sphaerae listening to the sounds of the Amazon Jungle. 

Metamorphosis

"Haunted Screens: German Cinema in the 1920's"

LACMA has an additional multimedia exhibit on German Expressionism.  This focuses on the German movies of the 1920's.  The exhibit features the film creations of directors Fritz Lang, F.W. Murnau, G.W. Pabst, Robert Wiene and others during the Weimar Republic period from the fall of the Kaiser's imperial government of 1919 to the rise of National Socialism, Nazism, in 1933.  The description states that during this tumultuous period, culture flourished amid social unrest, inflation and excess.  It goes on to state that while only a small percentage of the films produced in Weimar Germany can be considered Expressionists, the style proved decisive for the future evolution of cinema.

The exhibition was designed by Amy Murphy and Michael Maltzan.  It provides several cave-like areas for viewing clips of films as well as framed photographs and film posters.

It is fascinating to try to transport oneself to the roaring '20's in Germany during this fascinating period.  I recommend that you try by visiting this exhibit and the others showing art from this period.

Image, Unknown, "M" Germany 1931 Lithograph

Here is an example of one of the "caves" for viewing the films.  

German Expressionists in Books

German Expressionists artists also worked in partnership with writers, current or past to illustrate their interpretation of the written messages.  Some wrote their own prose.  Others illustrated the classics from Shakespeare, Goethe and others.

While missing the now closed LACMA French and German Expressionists exhibit, I discovered some of their works in the permanent exhibit.  The museum also has a special exhibit entitled:  "The Written Image:   Books and Portfolios From the Robert Gore Rifkind Center for German Expressionist Studies."  The description states that printmaking was a vital medium for the expresion of aesthetic ideas printed on single sheets, portfolios, books and periodicals.  These were expedient and flexible means of disseminating art to a wide audience.

But first, here are two paintings from the Expressionists, one French, one German, one after the war and one after.

"Composition," 1925 by Fernand Leger, French, 1881-1955

"Bathers," 1913,, by Karl Schmidt-Rottluff, German, 1884-1976

The information at the exhibit states that central to proliferation of illustrated books and print portfolios after World War I was a handful of German publishers and art dealers.  They were committed to providing inexpensive examples of the latest examples in art.  Their galleries and publishing houses in Berlin, Dresden and Munich were cultural meccas during the Weimar era and helped to support the artists to ear much needed income during this inflationary period following the war.

"Zwei Manner am Tisch" 1913 by Erich Heckel, German 1883-1970, woodcut.  This work relates to Dostoyevsky's  The Idiot and The Brothers Karamazov.  The artist was an avid reader of the Russian novelist.  The artist translated Dostoyevsky's themes in both paintings and prints.

"Triumph der Liebe," 1911 by Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, German, 1880-1938, woodcut.

"Die beiden Veroneser (The Two Gentlemen of Verona)," 1917 by Franz Maria Jansen, German , 1885-1958, woodcut with hand-coloring on japan paper.  From the portfolio "Visions of Shakespeare," 1918.

"Macbeth V," 1918 by Wilhelm Lehmbruck, German, 1881-1919, etching and drypoint.

"Falstaff," 1917 by Lovis Corinth, German 1858-1925, drypoint on japan paper.  From "Visions of Shakespeare."

"Kundung: Eine Zeitschrift for Kunst (Kundung:  A Magazine for Art)," 1920 by Karl Schmidt-Rottluff, German 1884-1976, woodcut printed in black and orange.

"Untitled," 1912 by Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, German 1880-1938, woodcut on blue and red paper.  This was the cover of the exhibition catalogue for the Brucke Art's Group in Berlin.

"Tod auf der Landstrasse (Death on the Road)," 1934 by Kathe Kollwitz, German 1867-1945, lithograph.  From the portfolio "Tod (Death)," 1934-37, Berlin.

"Portrait of Dostoyevski," 1921 by Max Beckmann, German, 1884-1950, drypoint.

"Handstand," 1916 by Erich Heckel, German, 1883-1970, lithograph on japan paper.

"Inhaltsverzeichnis fur die Neumann-Mappe (Table of contents for the Neumann portfolio)," 1919 by Karl Schmidt-Rottluff, woodcut.

"Faces of Homelessness" portraits by Dr. Stuart Perlman

Stuart Perlman PhD has been a clinical psychologist in private practice in West Los Angeles for over 30 years.  He returned to painting by focusing on portraits of the homeless.  "If we can see the faces of the homeless and learn their stories - their hopes, dreams, accomplishments and fears - we can no longer pretend they do not exist...we can no longer look the other way."

The "Faces of Homelessness" portrait project has been exhited throughout Los Angeles.  I saw some of the paintings at the ArcLight Hollywood.  Stuart's documentary about this project, "Struggle in Paradise," won the National Association for the Advancement of Psychoanalysis' Best Movie of the Year Award in 2013.

This exhibit is supported by the "Homes for Good" program which is an initiative of United Way and L.A. Area Chamber of Commerce who are seeking other supporters to bring "L.A. homeless neighbors Home For Good.

"Daniel, late 50's"  Daniel is an Air Force Veteran and college graduate.  He worked for AIG Architects as a drafstsman and project coordinator.  He loved his job, his wife and children who he adored.  Then one night he got a call from the local sheriff informing him that a drunk driver had killed his wife and children.  He said he went crazy used drugs then stopped and came to California and lived on the beach.  He started writing poems, which he called his therapy.  After seven years on the beach he moved into a HUD-Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing program apartment.
Daniel's Poem
Now I'm on the beach,
playing in the sand under my toes,
only God knows.
There's a child going wild,
he stops and looks at me and he smiles,
that's what it's all about.
It makes me want to get up and shout,
"Let;s all get out, what a day!"
I wouldn't want to spend it any other way,
Except one.
I miss you, babe. 

"Father and Daughter"
The subjects of the portrait must remain anonymous as it represents many families with children who live on the beach but feel they need to remain invisible so the Child Welfare officals don't take their children away.

"Nate, 62"
Nate was drafted into the Vietnam War when he was attending New York University.  He doesn't want to talk about the "atrocities" of war but that something had  "died inside."  He graduated from NYU and worked as a comedy writer in L.A.  Nate is getting medication from the VA for PTSD and depression.

"DK, 40s"
DK is a Native American who's childhood was one of neglect and physical mistreatment.  He began drinking alcohol given by his father when he was a child and says he has be an alcoholic for 40 years.  DK plays the guitar and sings. "The songs he writes are filled with angst and sorrow.  He is desperate to be heard."

"Corey, 20s"
"Corey's early childhood was so terrible he cannot even talk about it.  At 18 he enlisted in the Navy and became a Navy Seal and did multiple tours in Iraq.  He was court-martialed and dishonorable discharged for not "taking out a target" which he he was was an Iraq soldier holding up an infant as protection.  He was ordered to "Shoot the target through the baby!"
He lives on the beach with a girlfriend who is pregnant.  "He desperately wants to get a job to support them."

"Crystal, 26"
Crystal at age 12 was raped by her stepbrothers and kicked out of her house.  She was exploited on the streets by a pimp and forced to take drugs.  He has lived mostly on the streets for the past 14 years.  Crystal describe having per portrait painted as "cool" and that it was unusual for someone to "take the time out of their day to talk to a homeless person."

"Grumpy, 61"
Grumpy grew up in an orphanage and adopted at age 13 and two months later his adoptive mother died.  He as been homeless for seven years and has had a heart attack, multiple seizures and strokes.  He has sever cirrhosis of the liver from drinking.  He feels that his is viewed as society's trash.

Opera Simulcast on the Pier

On Wednesday night, we brought our beach chairs to the Santa Monica Pier to watch a Simulcast of a live Los Angeles Opera production of Giuseppe Verdi's La Traviata.  It starred the music director Pacido Domingo as Giorgio Germont, Nino Machaidze as Violetto, and Arturo Chacon-Cruz as Alfredo Germont.  Violetta and Alfredo are the love interest, Giorgio is his father who tries to straighten out the mess since Violetta is a consort of Baron Douphol played by Daniel Mobbs. The lavish production was set in the Roaring '20's in Paris with beautiful clothes, sets that included a 1920's fancy sedan that road across the stage, and wonderful dancers.

We enjoyed our beverages and snacks and the beautiful production on the pier.  Spoiler Alert:  The Diva dies at the end of the opera.

USS Iowa and the PV Band

Last Saturday night we enjoyed a band concert on the fore deck of the U.S.S. Iowa which is permanently anchored in L.A.'s San Pedro harbor.  It was a beautiful night on the deck, under the guns listening to John Phillip

Sousa Marches and other band music by the Palos Verdes Symphonic Band.  We enjoyed the view too looking over the harbor, passing boats, the loading of a cargo ship across the water and the lights on the Vincent Thomas bridge to the North of us.

Joy at the Bowl

On Thursday night we went to the Hollywood Bowl for the final classical concert of the season.  Juanjo Mena, a Basque-Spanish conductor led the full L.A. Phil in Leonard Bernstein's Symphonic Dances from "West Side Story" for the first part of the program.  We enjoyed the lyrical tunes including "Maria," "America," "Cool" and "There's a Place for Us."

After the intermission it was all Beethoven's Ninth Symphony with 100+ members of the L.A. Master Chorale and four opera singers.  The "Ode to Joy" was in commemoration of those lost on 9/11.
The highlight of course was the final movement which was sung in German starting with the booming voice of baritone-bass, Morris Robinson.  The L.A. Times reviewer, Richard Ginell, wrote that "it jolted the performance to another level."

We, along with the 10,000 plus fans thoroughly enjoyed the evening.  Here are a few glimpses  of the performance.

Nathan Cole was the lead violinist for the evening.

The view of the orchestra and chorale from our seats.

Juanjo Mena, Conductor

Morris Robinson, bass-baritone 

Members of the Chorale

The Los Angeles Master Chorale with Camilla Nylund, Soprano, Daniela Mack, Mezzo-Soprano, Donald Litaker, Tenor, and Morris Robinson, Bass-Baritone.