Balthazar Klossowki de Rola Balthus
Born – Paris, France 1908
Died – Switzerland, 1997
Balthus looked to the Austro-German poet Rainer Maria Rilke, a friend of his mother’s, for paternal and cultural influence. Balthus’s love of children’s literature and illustrations persisted into his adult life. He was a precocious artistic talent and his lifelong interest in the art of the Orient was also initiated at an early age. He came into contact with Japanese and Chinese prints via the interest shown in him by the painter Balthus moved to Paris in 1924. He favoured working in an impressionistic manner copying from old masters, in particular Poussin, Masaccio and Piero della Francesca, rather than receive direct tuition. Images of sexuality and intimacy, particularly of adolescent girls, recur. The Guitar Lesson, 1934, set the tone for the preoccupations with developed in his art. Undertones of the erotic and of violence pervade curiously theatrical, contrived settings. In 1943 Balthus moved to Switzerland. Living privately and in seclusion Balthus re-invented his technique many times. Katie Reading seems to have been produced in an age quite distant from our own. It reveals the strangely naïve, chalky quality of his work which, during the 1970s, showed an increased interest in light and decoration
Masterpieces:
- The Living Room
- Le Lever
Text: The A-Z of Art, Nicola Hodge and Libby Anson.