Capturing the Gilmore Artists: Tom Bachtell’s Ongoing Contribution

For more than two decades, celebrated New Yorker caricaturist Tom Bachtell has brought each Gilmore Artist to life through his distinctive portraits—including his latest of 2024 Gilmore Artist Alexandre Kantorow. But how did this long-standing partnership between The Gilmore and Bachtell begin?

Dr. Joan Sharda, a local neonatologist and Gilmore patron and volunteer, became acquainted with the renowned caricature artist, Tom Bachtell, through friends in Chicago.  Bachtell’s distinctive drawings and caricatures appear each week in “The Talk of the Town” and other sections of The New Yorker where he has been a regular contributor for more than 20 years.

In 2003, Dr. Sharda suggested to director Dan Gustin that The Gilmore consider commissioning Bachtell to create portraits of Gilmore Artists (GAs) and Gilmore Young Artists (GYAs).    An amateur pianist himself and a fan of The Gilmore, Mr. Bachtell had more than a passing interest in pianists as subject matter for his work, and seemed an ideal artist to link the worlds of visual and musical art for this project.

Dr. Sharda volunteered to raise the funds needed to commission Tom Bachtell to create caricature portraits of the eight GYAs appearing in the 2004 Festival, as well as the 2002 Gilmore Artist Piotr Anderszewski.  The drawings were reproduced in a special program for the Festival’s Opening Gala and prints were signed and framed for presentation to each of the GYAs.  Mr. Bachtell also agreed to create a number of illustrations for the 2004 Gilmore Festival book.

The Bachtell commissions were so compelling that they became a regular feature of each Gilmore Festival, and Dr. Sharda continued to help raise funds to underwrite them.  Bachtell’s portraits of each Gilmore Artist from the first, David Owen Norris, to the current Gilmore Artist, Alexandre Kantorow, are displayed in The Gilmore office, and each has been framed and presented to the artists.