We feel a bit ashamed, as this artist was not presented in our gallery until today. Anyway, better late than never, and we fill this gap right now. Balthasar Klossowski de Rola (1908-2001), also known as Balthus (his childhood nickname), was born in a family of Polish expatriates. From an early age until his death, he lived in an artistic environment and remained a prominent figure in Western art. Some of us would call Balthus a lucky one since André Gide and Jean Cocteau were frequent guests in the Kollosowski family. The artist's first book, which he created at 13, was published with the help of his stepfather, poet Rainer Maria Rilke.
Silence of the Lambs
Balthus himself liked to produce myths about his biography, and his marriage to Japanese woman Setsuko Ideta with 36 years age gap (she was younger than him) created an additional exotic vibe. It seems that Balthus would be thankful to Thomas Harris, who made him an uncle of Hannibal Lecter in his sequel to The Silence of the Lambs.
Fig. 1. Balthus, portrait by Oliver Mark, 2000 (Wikipedia.org)
Fig. 2. Thérèse Dreaming, 1938 (wikiart.org)
Fig. 3. Girl and Cat, 1937 (wikiart.org)
Uncomfortable Sexuality
Balthus is famous for his images of teenage girls in provocative poses. Just like Irina Ionesco's photography, the art of Balthus makes people feel uncomfortable. In 2017, some purists signed a petition to remove his painting Thérèse Dreaming from the exposition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Interestingly, when the same painting was exposed at the Museum Ludwig in Germany in 2007, there weren't any complaints. Nevertheless, it's not the most scandalous work of Balthus, while Guitar Lesson (1934) quite surely is.
Fig. 4. Guitar Lesson, 1934 (arthive.com)
Fig. 5. Preparatory sketch (wikiart.org)
Fig. 6. Le Violon d'Ingres, 1924 (Wikipedia.org)
