Spotlight: Self-portrait, August 8, 2018 by Don Bachardy

Overview

Title of Work: Self-portrait, August 8, 2018

Date of creation: August 8, 2018

Creator: Donald Jess Bachardy (b. 1934), American

Synopsis: Self-portrait, August 8, 2018 is a painting that measures approximately two feet by two feet. It is a self-portrait of the artist Don Bachardy at 84 years old. Bachardy is well-known for his portraits of famous people, including actors, writers, and musicians, but he often paints himself when he has no other sitter. He aims to show the truth in his work, even if it’s not flattering, saying that he “can only record what I see.” 

About the Artist

Don Bachardy (b. 1934) is a Los Angeles-based artist specializing in portraits who is estimated to have made at least 17,000 works of art. He captures actors and writers, friends and strangers, completing each artwork in a silent two- to three-hour session. Many of his subjects pose at his home and studio in Santa Monica, where he’s lived for over 60 years. It’s also the home he shared with his longtime partner, the writer Christopher Isherwood. Bachardy’s early portraits were mostly black and white and graphite, though later he primarily used color and watered-down acrylic paint. Together, these portraits are a decades-long look at a broad cross-section of people who came in and out of Bachardy’s life in Los Angeles. 

Early Life: A Love of Movies

Born in the Atwater Village neighborhood of Los Angeles, Bachardy grew up steeped in the culture of movies. His mother fostered this love, saving money to take him and his brother Ted to the movie theater each week. He has said that, from age 5, he was devoted to the movies and began drawing copies of the photographs of actors and actresses he saw in fan magazines. When they grew older, he and Ted would sneak into movie premieres, taking pictures with stars including Marilyn Monroe and Humphrey Bogart. “I always felt so lucky, even as a kid, to be living in the same place that the movies were made in,” he said.

Bachardy began college at UCLA to study modern languages, transferred to Los Angeles City College, returned to UCLA, and then dropped out. By that time, he had met Christopher Isherwood.

Relationship with Christopher Isherwood

In 1953, when he was 18, Bachardy met writer Christopher Isherwood, who was 48, at the beach in Santa Monica. They became a couple almost instantly and stayed together until Isherwood died in 1986. Isherwood was a well-established writer who had published several novels and screenplays, and their Santa Monica home became an epicenter for performers, writers, directors, producers, choreographers, composers, and other important cultural figures. Through Isherwood, Bachardy had access to the people he had long admired and he drew portraits of many of them, including Bette Davis, Joan Crawford, and Katharine Hepburn.

Early on, Isherwood encouraged Bachardy’s drawing and was his first in-person, live subject. Financially supported by Isherwood, Bachardy began studying art formally, enrolling at Chouinard Art Institute (now CalArts), and starting a daily practice of drawing from life. He also traveled in Europe and lived for a time in London, where he had his first gallery exhibition in 1961.

Throughout their relationship, Bachardy and Isherwood supported each other’s creative work, sharing it daily. Isherwood was Bachardy’s most frequent sitter, the subject of more than 1,000 portraits. When Isherwood was dying of cancer, they agreed that Bachardy would paint him every day to chronicle his decline with honesty. Over the course of six months, Bachardy made 447 portraits of Isherwood.

Self-Portraits

When Bachardy doesn’t have a sitter to draw, he turns to himself, even though he is not his preferred subject. He has said of his self-portraits, which he creates using a mirror, “When I feel I have a fierce need to work, and it is so fierce I can even get myself to do another self-portrait. The subject just couldn’t interest me less. But if I have to work, I have to find something there to work with.” These self-portraits present an unsparing insight into growing older. 

This painting, Self-portrait, August 8, 2018, is Bachardy at 84 years old. His face takes up approximately two-thirds of the paper, and he stares directly at the viewer with a slight frown. His white hair is cropped close, and he has some facial hair. The blue of his tank top echoes in some of the detailing of his skin, face, and hair. His direct gaze challenges the viewer to take him as he is, wrinkles and all.

Materials and Artistic Process

Bachardy asks almost everyone he meets to sit for him and has said, “I have drawings and paintings of just about everybody I have known in the past 40 years, including the most casual friends.” Each portrait is done in silence for several hours at a time. He often gets as close as possible to his subject, sometimes just a few inches away. 

The paper Bachardy uses dictates each artwork’s scale. He prefers paper instead of canvas because of its smooth surface. Before Isherwood’s death, he rarely used color but developed a palette of colors afterward using acrylic paint. Brightly colored acrylic is ideal for Bachardy’s portraits because it’s easy and quick to work with. 

Bachardy aims to portray each person as he sees them and devotes much energy to getting it right. He starts with the eyes as he has said those are the most important feature, though he believes the mouth is where a person expresses their personality. The portrait may not be flattering, but it is true to life. To authenticate the work and declare the portrait a collaboration between artist and subject, Bachardy asks the sitter to sign and date it.

Vocabulary

• Acrylic paint: A type of water-based paint made up of small particles of plastic and pigment.
• Graphite: A form of carbon, and the material that pencil leads are made from.
• Sitter: The person posing for a portrait.
• Self-portrait: A work of art that depicts the artist who made it.
• Palette: A selection of colors an artist uses regularly or the surface on which artists place and mix their colors when they paint. 

Questions and prompts

• How would you describe Don Bachardy’s visual style?
• Bachardy has always said he aims for truth in his work. Why do you think he likes to draw people as they are?
• It’s often said that the eyes are the window to the soul, but Bachardy believes personality is expressed through the mouth. Do you agree or disagree with him? Why? How might a mouth express personality?
• Bachardy draws his subjects in one silent sessions of several hours. What do you think it would be like to pose for him? Would you like it? Why or why not?
• Sitting in front of a mirror, try drawing a self-portrait in a short amount of time in one sitting. What did you notice about the process? What area did you focus on first?