by Sabine Rewald
Of all the major figures of 20th-century art, the painter known as Balthus may be the most mysterious. Refusing to consort with the press or public, Balthus (born Balthasar Klossowski in 1908) has always insisted that his paintings speak for themselves, which they do powerfully in a much praised retrospective at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York through May 13. The 51 paintings and most of the 62 drawings of the show—assembled by the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris—are reproduced in this companion book. It includes many of Balthus' provocative, often disturbing paintings of young girls, nymphettes lounging on chairs and divans, their skirts hiked high on smooth thighs. Lost in reverie, the girls do not meet our eyes. Sometimes a monstrously large-headed cat lurks nearby. Balthus' sense of mystery and drama also permeates a 1937 painting, Still Life, showing a knife piercing a loaf of bread while a carafe lies broken on the table. There are also portraits, such as a forceful 1936 oil of painter André Derain. In her text Rewald, an art historian, sketches out the painter's life. (His Polish nobleman father was a writer and painter; his mother copied Poussin in the Louvre.) In this informative if uninspired book, the author rarely seems to touch the sources of Balthus' passion. She does, however, quote the poet Rainer Maria Rilke, a friend of Balthus' mother. Balthus, Rilke wrote, "will remain in his dream and he will transform reality to suit his creative needs." (Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, $29.50; paper, $16.95)
Your Reaction
