On the Record

Twice in 1906 Henri Matisse painted the same brooding young sailor in the same pose in the Mediterranean town of Collioure. Critics have always preferred Le Jeune Marin II for its flowing strokes and color. Perhaps that was because they saw little of Jeune Marin I; Matisse sold it to Gertrude Stein's brother Michael, who twelve years later sold it to a Norwegian collector. Recently Marin I surfaced at exhibitions in New York and Zurich, a prelude to auction last week at Christie's in London. There, in spirited bidding on the floor and by telephone, the oil was knocked down for $1,584,000, an auction record for 19th and 20th century paintings. Christie's would only identify the successful bidder as being from "across the Atlantic." Presumably that meant the U.S., although Jeune Marin II is in Mexico City.

Once they saw aye to aye on getting out of Viet Nam. Now Folk Singer Joan Baez and Actress Jane Fonda are at war. The break began over Baez's open letter to Hanoi protesting jails jammed with 200,000 political prisoners and the use of captives as human mine detectors. Invited to sign, Fonda demurred. Baez, she explained, was aligning herself "with the most narrow and negative elements in our country, who continue to believe that Communism is worse than death." Retorted Baez: "I don't have any ideological yoke around my neck that blinds me to human rights violations."

Six years after Lyndon Baines Johnson's death, Widow Lady Bird, 66, has decided to sell 2,353 acres that the 36th President bought to enlarge the ranch, now a national historic site, where he lies buried. "I'm trying to shave off as many obligations, duties and responsibilities as I can," explains the former First Lady. She will continue to enjoy the L.BJ. Ranch on the Pedernales River to which she first came as a bride in 1934. Still, the territory to be sold was added with "much love and thrill and happiness and adventure." In two great trees are hooks that held one of the President's favorite hammocks. Then there is the stone house where "we'd always have a Christmas party with roaring fires and wreaths, and after a barbecue we'd roll up the rug and dance. Lyndon loved to come here and ride over his land. His whole cycle of life was here."

Occidental moviemakers perceive her as a fashion photographer (Eyes of Laura Mars) or a ratings-mad television executive (Network). But Tokyo Art Director Eiko Ishioka, casting around for a Japanese TV commercial, saw in Faye Dunaway something of Kannon Bosatsu, the Buddhist goddess of mercy. Rigged in sail-like goddess attire, the inscrutable pitchperson has no lines, but she kisses and caresses two tiny girls in a fetching commercial for a chain of boutiques, galleries and theaters that airs next month.

Jay Rockefeller, West Virginia Governor and great-grandson of Standard Oil's John D.: "I don't have a whole lot of faith in what the oil companies say."

Lester Lanin, society orchestra leader: "I very seldom fail to play the wedding of a girl whose coming-out we've played. Then she becomes chairman of a charity ball and engages us. They're loyal, the social element in this country."

Indira Gandhi, former Indian Prime Minister, posing for photographs with admirers: "I am one of the sights of Delhi."

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