A Life Captured in Graphite and Light Born in Los Angeles in 1934, Don Bachardy developed an eye for the human presence that would define much of his seventy-year career. His training took him from the Chouinard Art Institute in his home city to the Slade School of Art in London, providing a technical foundation that favored direct observation over abstraction. He began drawing in his teens, driven by a fascination with the figures found in cinema and the people inhabiting the classic Hollywood era. This early interest in the moving image eventually translated into a disciplined approach to…