Balthus | |
|---|---|
| Balthasar Klossowski de Rola | |
 Balthus by Damian Pettigrew (1996) | |
| Born | Balthasar Klossowski February 29, 1908 Paris, France |
| Died | February 18, 2001 (aged 92) Rossinière, Switzerland |
| Known for | Painting, drawing, watercolor |
| Notable work | The Street (1933–35) The Mountain (1937) Nude Before a Mirror (1955) |
| Spouse(s) | Antoinette de Watteville (Married 1937 - Divorced 1966), Setsuko Klossowska de Rola (Married 1967) |
| Children | Stanislas Klossowski de Rola, Thaddeus Klossowski de Rola, Harumi Klossowska de Rola |
| Awards | Praemium Imperiale |
Balthasar Klossowski de Rola (February 29, 1908 – February 18, 2001), known as Balthus, was a Polish-French modern artist. He is known for his erotically charged images of pubescent girls, but also for the refined, dreamlike quality of his imagery.
Throughout his career, Balthus rejected the usual conventions of the art world. He insisted that his paintings should be seen and not read about, and he resisted attempts to build a biographical profile.[1] Nevertheless, towards the end of his life he took part in a series of dialogues with the neurobiologist Semir Zeki, conducted at his chalet at Rossinière, Switzerland and at the Palazzo Farnese (French Embassy) in Rome. They were published in 1995 under the title La Qûete de l'essentiel,[2] and in them he gives some of his views on art, painting and some other painters.[3]
- ^ "Art". The New Yorker. 2 September 2013.
- ^ Zeki, Semir (1995). Balthus ou La quête de l'essentiel : [entretiens]. Les Belles lettres. ISBN 2-251-44045-3. OCLC 406589116.
- ^ Balthus (1999). Balthus : les méditations d'un promeneur solitaire de la peinture : entretiens avec Françoise Jaunin. Bibliothèque des arts. ISBN 2-88453-071-1. OCLC 43950788.