Bonhams to Offer Nude Painting of Clara Bow

Photo courtesy of Bonhams

BELA LUGOSI’S LONG-LOST 1929 PAINTING OF A NUDE CLARA BOW FOUND AND HEADING FOR AUCTION!

 The “It” Girl Poses Au Natural for Count Dracula

 A Half-Century Mystery Finally Solved

 By Greg Mank

A racy relic from the legendary life of Bela Lugosi — a 1929 painting, featuring the naked image of Clara Bow — has emerged from a half-century of obscurity, fated for auction this fall.

It’s sexy, iconic Hollywood history — the “It Girl,” posing au natural for “Count Dracula.”

And it’s all part of the Bonhams and Butterfields Auction in New York City this November 25, titled, “What Dreams Are Made Of: A Century of Movie Magic at Auction, as Curated by Turner Classic Movies.”

The back story is fascinating. In 1928, Lugosi was appearing on the Los Angeles stage in Dracula (prior to Universal Studios’ 1931 film version). Bow, at a swimming party, put a mink coat over her bathing suit and headed downtown to the Biltmore Theatre to see the play. The towering, blue-eyed “vampire” reputedly entranced her, and backstage, the Jazz Baby redhead most certainly entranced him.

Did a sexual tryst follow? Maybe. Some argue Clara’s main attraction to Bela was that, from what she’d heard, the Hungarian émigré didn’t speak English. As the Brooklyn-born Bow was terrified of making her Talkie debut, she thought Lugosi, with his language difficulty (and reputation for learning his lines phonetically), was an “inspiration.” However, others believe there was a sexual affair — and indeed, when Lugosi’s third wife divorced him in 1929, she cited Bela’s passion for Clara.

At any rate, Lugosi apparently persuaded Bow to pose for his friend and Hollywood next-door neighbor, artist Geza Kende (1889 – 1952). Bow not only obliged — she stripped. (By the way, Kende also painted the life-size, full-length study of Lugosi in Prince Albert attire, sold in 2004 by Heritage Auctions for $86,250). Lugosi cherished the Bow portrait, proudly and prominently displaying it in all his various Hollywood homes for the rest of his life. Three different Mrs. Bela Lugosis’ had to learn to live with it.

After Lugosi’s death in 1956, his widow, Hope, who had wed Lugosi the previous year (he was 72, she was 36), eventually sold the painting to an art dealer before she moved to Hawaii. For personal reasons, Hope never divulged the name of the dealer to whom she’d sold it. She was still keeping her secret when she died in 1997.

Meanwhile, the painting passed hands. For approximately the past 20 years, it has been in the collection of the consignor, a modest collector of arts and antiques, who bought it from the mother of an art collector who had died of AIDS. The mother, a deeply religious lady, had objected to the risque nature of the painting and as such was agreeable to part with the painting of Clara and her displayed charms.

Some restoration work has been done, primarily to remove Lugosi’s cigar smoke stains from the canvas. A portion of the auction’s proceeds will go to the Film Foundation.

As a piece of classic Hollywood memorabilia, the item has it all: sex, horror, mystery…and a hot-blooded connection between two Golden Age cinema legends.

Click here to visit Greg Mank’s website.

Click here to see info on Hollywood’s Hellfire Club, the great book co-authored by Greg.

Click here to see the Bonhams auction catalog for the “What Dreams Are Made Of” on November 25th.