‘Gatsby’ designs on display in Culver City gallery

Baz Luhrmann and the makers of “The Great Gatsby” used varied literary references to shape the film’s screenplay and the actors’ performances. If you’d like to see what inspired production and costume designer Catherine Martin’s look for the film, a Culver City gallery soon will be showcasing her original “Great Gatsby” sketches and influences.

Called “Catherine Martin: The Great Gatsby,” the show opens at the Century Guild art and antiquities gallery on May 8 and run until June 1. The 3-D film opens May 10.

In addition to displaying sketches for the elegant costumes she built for Jay Gatsby (Leonardo DiCaprio), Daisy Buchanan (Carey Mulligan), Nick Carraway (Tobey Maguire), Tom Buchanan (Joel Edgerton) and Jordan Baker (Elizabeth Debicki), the show includes some of the film’s actual costumes, jewelry and props and prominent influences Martin drew upon for her designs. Martin is married to Luhrmann.

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Those influences include Austrian painter Gutav Klimt, American artist Gail Potocki, German illustrator Walter Schnackenberg, Czech artist Alfons Maria Mucha, French lithographer Jules Chéret and German fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld.

The gallery presentation includes a love letter that Luhrmann imagined that Jay wrote to Daisy on the day of her marriage to Tom.

While the contents of the letter are not detailed in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel, Luhrmann and his creative team supposed that Jay wasn’t yet well-off enough to merit Daisy’s affections.

“Please, please please Daisy, remember all that we have and wait for me,” reads the letter, written with a fountain pen in handwriting that mimics Fitzgerald’s. “I cannot be without you. I sail for America tonight. Please wait my darling, please, I beg of you. My undying and everlasting love, Jay.”

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