BILLY AL BENGSTON (1934-2022) Puerto Escondido Watercolor signed, inscribed and dated 'B. A. B. PUERTO ESCONDIDO 1977' (center of the lower edge) watercolor on paper 20 x 15 in (50.8 x 38.1 cm) Executed in 1977 Footnotes: Provenance Private collection, Los Angeles (acquired from the artist). By bequest from the above. Exhibited Houston, Contemporary Arts Museum, Billy Al Bengston: Paintings of Three Decades, May 14-June 26, 1988 (exh. cat., illustrated, pl. 33, p. 92) (later traveled to Oakland, Oakland Museum; Los Angeles, Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Honolulu, Contemporary Arts Center). At the start of the 1970s, British actress Samantha Eggar put down roots in Los Angeles to embark on a new chapter in her career, arriving at a moment when the film and television industries were undergoing profound transformation. Hollywood was shifting away from the dominance of the studio system in its Golden Age toward a more experimental director-driven model, a landscape that proved to be fertile for the young ambitious actress. On the heels of an Academy award nomination for her role in William Wyler's The Collector, she embraced a wide range of opportunities across both film and television. Refusing to be confined to a single genre, she began a prolific television career which offered her steady roles between film productions and ample opportunities to expand her craft with each new character. Trained on the stage in Shakespearean theater, she brought a disciplined and thoughtful approach to every role, displaying a remarkable versatility. The art scene of Los Angeles in the 1970s was also a new, not yet defined era following the closure of Walter Hopps' and Irving Blum's wildly influential Ferus Gallery in 1966. The scene entered a period of reinvention, marked by experimentation with new material and ideas. At a time of unprecedented interdisciplinary exchange in California, artists, actors, and musicians gathered in lively house parties in the Hollywood Hills or Bel Air, where social and creative boundaries dissolved. It was within this milieu that Eggar found not only a new place to call home, but a deeply engaged artistic community. She formed lasting friendships with leading figures of the Los Angeles art world and became an active participant in its ecosystem, attending openings across town and collecting the work of friends Billy Al Bengston, Ken Price, Robert Graham, Larry Bell, and more. Her Beverly Hills home also became a gathering place where she hosted dinner parties that brought together a vibrant cross section of the city's creative circles. The present lot, amongst other works from the Estate of Samantha Eggar coming to auction at Bonhams vividly capture one of the most important defining moments in the cultural history of Los Angeles while also telling the story of a long life lived to the fullest and guided by creativity, passion, humor, generosity, and love. For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com For further information about this lot please visit the lot listing