Original Oil Painting Portrait of Screenwriter and Novelist William Goldman by Artist Alexander Newley
signed
2004 · New York
by GOLDMAN, WILLIAM, ALEXANDER NEWLEY
New York, 2004. Striking original color oil painting portrait of screenwriter and novelist William Goldman by artist Alexander Newley, from the estate of William Goldman (1931 - 2018). This painting on canvas is elaborately framed to an overall 27 1/2 inches x 34 1/2 inches, set in a heavy gilt frame, approximately 3 1/4 inches wide. The painting is in fine condition while the frame has several spots of narrow chipping - the largest of which is 1 1/2 inches long. The artist has signed his name “Newley” and written the date “’04” at the lower right corner of the painting. On the back, on raw canvas, he has also boldly written in black oil paint: “William Goldman, N.Y.C. Feb - April, 2004”. Goldman is shown facing forward, dressed in a brown button down shirt with an open collar, leaning on the back of what appears to be an upholstered dining chair, with a curtained opening behind him, beyond which we see a wall of books in the far background. Mr. Goldman’s expression evokes a quality of open, straightforward, and candid curiosity and intelligence. Alexander Newley, also known as Sacha Newley, is a British contemporary artist, portraitist, writer and teacher known for his portrait paintings, including Gore Vidal, Billy Wilder, Dame Judi Dench, Kenneth Branagh, Derek Jacobi, Lily James, and Oliver Stone. Newley’s dramatic triple-portrait of Superman actor and activist Christopher Reeve form part of the permanent collection of the National Portrait Gallery at the Smithsonian in Washington, DC. He is the only son of actor and songwriter Anthony Newley and actress Joan Collins. William Goldman was a masterful storyteller with a great capacity for insight and relevance, making his entire body of work shine as much now as it ever did. Three of his scripts have been voted into the Writers Guild of America Hall-of-Fame's 101 Greatest Screenplays list; Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, All the President’s Men - both of which won him an Oscar, and The Princess Bride which he adapted from his own novel. “You can only write what you can make play,” Goldman says in the Writers Speak DVD. “It’s all about the story. You’ve gotta think, I can make this play.” His enormously successful film writing and script doctoring career includes so many other greats; Harper (1966), No Way to Treat a Lady (1968), The Stepford Wives (1975), A Bridge Too Far (1977), The Hot Rock (1972), Papillon (1973 - as an uncredited contributing writer), The Great Waldo Pepper (1975), The Ghost and the Darkness (1996) and Marathon Man (1976) and Magic (1978) which were both adapted from his own novels. Some of his other published works include the novels Boys and Girls Together (1964), Tinsel (1979), Control (1982), The Silent Gondoliers (1983), The Color of Light (1984), Heat (1985), and the memoirs Adventures in the Screen Trade: A Personal View of Hollywood and Screenwriting (1983), Which Lie Did I Tell?: More Adventures in the Screen Trade (2000), Wait Till Next Year (1988), and Hype and Glory (1990). William Goldman had this simple advice for would-be screenwriters: “Go and see a movie all day long.” His reasoning was that, by evening, utterly bored with the movie, one would start observing the audience and realize what makes people tick - the true source of and inspiration for all great storytelling. (Inventory #: 23191E)