French painter, Balthazar Klossowski de Rola, known as Balthus, was born in Paris in 1908 of aristocratic Polish parents, both of whom painted. Although Balthus had no formal artistic training, he had the reputation of being an infant prodigy and was encouraged by family friends, Derain and Bonnard, who had a strong influence on him up to 1930. It was at this time that the chief characteristics of Balthus’s style became fixed: a convinced figurative artist and opposed to all forms of abstraction.
Balthus died 18 February 2001. This catalogue of the exhibition of his work, held at the Palazzo Grassi in Venice last year (9 September 2001‐ 6 January 2002), was written and curated by Jean Clair, regarded as the world’s foremost authority on Balthus.
Presenting a survey of his life and career, this is a fitting tribute to one of the world’s most distinguished and enigmatic artists. Balthus continued throughout his life to resist the fashions of the day and remained true to traditional techniques and subjects. He excelled as a portrait painter, in particular his portraits of Derain and Joan Miro, and also as a painter of landscapes in a tradition looking back to Poussin. However, he is probably best known for his paintings of young girls on the verge of womanhood in suggestive and/or enigmatic poses.
This catalogue follows Balthus’s career throughout his life and examines the influences on his work from long spells spent in Italy and his admiration for the work of Piero della Francesca, his contact with the theatre, to his love of oriental painting. During the 1930s through to the 1950s, Balthus struggled to make a living as an artist, appreciated only by a small band of artists and writers, and was supported by a consortium of patrons.
In 1961, however, he was appointed Director of the French Academy in Rome, and from this time his work started to gain wider recognition. Nowadays, Balthus’s paintings fetch huge amounts of money.
Certainly this catalogue is an essential purchase for all lovers of Balthus and major art collections. It includes 400 colour illustrations as well as interviews with the artist, recollections from people who knew him and essays written by art historians. The appendix includes a biography of Balthus, selected bibliography and list of one‐man exhibitions.
