Sotheby's catalogue of the sale of Contemporary Art, New York, November 5 and 6, 1985.  Cover lot 67A: David Hockney.  Christopher Isherwood and Don Bachardy, acrylic on canvas, 83 1/2 by 119 1/2 in. Painted in 1968. Estimate upon request.  The Property of Andrew Crispo Gallery, Inc. sold for the account of Rosenthal & Rosenthal, Inc. 

The wrap-around cover illustration puts Bachardy on the back. 

I'd forgotten this catalogue -- which also includes a number of items from the collection of Francois de Menil (including a fabulous rhinoceros desk and a pair of camel couches by Claude Lalanne) and a few glorious works by Willem de Kooning (1904-1997) and others -- until I went looking for it after being reminded by MW who sent me this article by Richard Lacayo.  I'd forgotten Andrew Crispo too.  

In his article about the film on Isherwood and Bachardy (cited also in earlier posts, see below) Lacayo references the English marital portrait tradition and then suggests that looking at paintings of couples can tell us things about the subjects and their relationship.  From the double portrait of Isherwood and Bachardy, for instance, one might infer "even more scenes from this marrriage than the [current] film lets us in on." 

Of course, the very best art should do exactly that; it should provoke us and inspire us to seek beyond the frame, so to speak, and look beyond the surface, where the truth (in my experience) seldom lies.  I would even say you ought to look at the broader context, at the setting and the times and the provenance of the art work.  Who made it and when and for whom and how well did they all know each other?

I was just thinking about this because my good friend RJK of The Daily Blague is coming out here to visit, and has expressed an interest in visiting The Huntington, and I am especially anxious for him to see the famous portraits of Pinkie and Blue Boy.  You really have to see them in person.  Those of you who only know the Paint-By-Number version or that cheap reproduction on an old postcard sent to you by your Uncle Frank who moved to California in the 50s and never married and your dad gets mad when you ask about him and your mom changes the subject -- well, you just don't know what you're missing.  You have to see these works of art in context, and it helps to know something about the art dealer Duveen who sold them to Huntington and about Huntington's quest to build a New Albion on the West Coast and in so doing he wound up owning more portraits of dead English people than you could shake a stick at.  You see?  There's much more to Art than meets the eye.