"Heh, heh, heh, heh, heh! Laughter explodes down the line from California. It was a very long time ago! says the painter Don Bachardy. His voice is high and rasping. Listening to him, you could be forgiven for thinking that the late Truman Capote was still with us. As for what happened a very long time ago, Bachardy is referring to the parties he threw with his partner, the British novelist Christopher Isherwood."
"Hockney depicted the couple in their living room, sitting in matching chairs. Isherwood, whose writing inspired Cabaret and the Oscar-winning A Single Man, is seen on the right of frame, looking over at Bachardy. The foreground is filled by a large, low table set with stacks of books and a fruit bowl. The pieces of fruit are almost luminous in the west coast sunshine that infuses the room despite the closed shutters behind the two men."
Don Bachardy, aged 91, laughs as he remembers the parties he and Christopher Isherwood hosted at their Adelaide Drive home in Santa Monica, a salon thronged by movie stars, writers and fellow artists. The guest list included Bette Davis, Marlene Dietrich, Laurence Olivier, Rock Hudson, Igor Stravinsky, Elton John, Tennessee Williams and Truman Capote. Isherwood died almost 40 years ago, and Bachardy now experiences age-related conditions affecting memory. Those recollections coincide with the forthcoming auction of David Hockney’s more-than-six-by-nine-foot double portrait of Isherwood and Bachardy, a work that could fetch up to 45m.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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