No, this one I didn't see at the National Portrait Gallery. But, if the price is right, it could be yours - it's up for auction on e-Bay.
By Bay Area artist Anthony De Frange, the painting is one of many starry portraits he did in the '60s and '70s. You might be able to guess, knowing that he was selling to a San Francisco public in those days, a little about his audience ("Not many straight people want portraits of Streisand and Garland - my biggest sellers").
This is one of those things - and I'm happy to admit that those occasions are getting rarer - that really makes me wish I had a spare $5,000 sitting around. If I had more energy, I'd start one of those GoFundStarter thingummies, buy the picture, and donate it to the NPG. With Margeret Keane's landmark My Way of Life portrait apparently MIA, it's the least that Miss Crawford deserves, don't you think?
Many thanks to the invaluable The Best of Everything for pointing out the availability of this little masterpiece.
Beautiful, if a tad grim around the great lady's mouth. I would rather this portrait of Joan purely for its provenance: www.pinterest.com/pin/229331806001071509/
ReplyDeleteI think he's rather under-proportioned her lower jaw, giving her a slightly chihuahuaische air, but he's more than made up for that with the flair in which her jade parure is rendered.
ReplyDeleteThat's Lucille Ball's jawline.
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