SAN MARINO, CALIFORNIA.- The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens presents Celebrities, Friends, and Strangers: Portraits by Don Bachardy, through February 6, 2005. Portraits of some of the 20th century’s major cultural figures will be on display in this exhibition of works by Los Angeles artist Don Bachardy. Masterfully captured in ink drawings or in bold, vividly colored acrylic paintings are Christopher Isherwood, Aldous Huxley, Beatrix Lehmann, Julie Harris, Dorothy Parker, Anais Nin, Gerald Heard, and others. Bachardy has said that he feels a powerful connection with his subjects and a sense of collaboration that gives his portraits their unique intensity and immediacy.

The exhibition is drawn from portraits in The Huntington’s collection as well as works lent by the artist, encompassing his long career and several stages in his artistic development. Bachardy’s work also resides in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the M.H. de Young Museum of Art in San Francisco, UCLA, the Fogg Art Museum of Harvard University, Princeton University, the Smithsonian Institution, and the National Portrait Gallery in London. His official portrait of Gov. Jerry Brown hangs in the California State Capitol Building.