Balthus [Hardcover]

Jean Clair (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 14, 2001

Balthazar Klossowski, known as Balthus, is largely regarded as one of the twentieth century's most important painters-- as well as the most scandalous. His dreamlike canvases populated with pubescent girls in provocative poses garnered him both praise and scorn from artists and critics alike. This volume, edited by renowned scholar Jean Clair, includes more than 400 color plates and includes essays by the premier experts on Balthus's work and life as well as recollections of the artist by his colleagues and friends.

Since the beginning of his seventy-five year career, he was admired for his extraordinary ability to straddle tradition and modernity, as is evident with his references to Renaissance masters such as Piero della Francesca. His work also revealed ties to early modernism as his first apprenticeships were guided by Claude Monet, Emile Bonnard, and André Derain. Nonetheless, by 1926, the year of his first solo exhibition in Paris, the exceptional "newness" of his work had garnered him a distinguished following including major French intellectuals such as Georges Bataille, Albert Camus, and Antonin Artaud.

This volume, which accompanies the largest exhibition to date of the artist's work, traces every stage of Balthus's career including an essay devoted to his early life and influences as well as a chapter devoted to the influence of Chinese paintings on his landscapes. A portion of the book is devoted to recollections by his friends who shed light on the elusive painter's life. The volume is complete with an extensive catalogue of his work which includes paintings, drawings, sketches for theatre sets as well as scores of photos of the artist taken by major photographers.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Jean Clair is a noted curator and scholar having organized scores of exhibitions throughout the world on major twentieth-century artists such as Pablo Picasso and Giorgio de Chirico, among many others. The author of the catalogue raisonné on Balthus, he is currently director of the Musée Picasso in Paris.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 386 pages
• Publisher: Rizzoli (December 14, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0847824101
• ISBN-13: 978-0847824106
• Product Dimensions: 12.1 x 8.6 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.9 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,050,294 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A solid collection of studies, January 15, 2004

By 

Saul Boulschett "Anyway" (Dry land) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Balthus (Hardcover)

This book is really a must for anyone who wishes to know everything there is "available" to know about the painter's work and position vis-a-vis modern art in relation to the traditional canon of European painting.
A job of this size would have been simply too much for any one author to handle alone with the degree of thoroughness that was attempted here; and so it was not. Many scholars have come together to shed light on various facets of Balthus' work: reference, method, technique, and influence. Here you will find a rich collection of obscure sketches, out-takes, doodles, and comparisons / parallels with Master paintings.

In addition to the essays and studies, every Balthus painting collected in this volume is examined individually but concisely: text on one page with the painting on the other so that one can understand what is being described, and appreciate the work at the same time.

HOWEVER, the color reproductions are less than 5 stars. Leans too much to brown/red. If color accuracy is important to you, Claude Roy's is the best so far. So if you love B's work, get both: I did. For the richness of the analyses, this one is hands-down superior, and indispensible.

Guy Davenport did some amazing analysis of B's work -- collected in his _Bathus Notebook_ This wonderful work is cited on several occasions and deservedly so. Study B's work better and you will avoid the meretricious vulgrity of applying adjectives like "perverse" to B's work, or "nubile" to speak of nudes, as if the word were synonymous with 'erotic,' or 'slim.' The question of nubility (marriageability) is simply irrelevant, and this book will reward the thoughtful reader by disabusing her of the banality of art-talk cliches and solecisms.

If you are more than just an "art appreciator," then this volume will help to enrich your understanding of art beyond just Balthus'.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars All about Balthus, January 12, 2003

By 

A. Sebastian Catala "Chany Catala" (Wallingford, CT United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Balthus (Hardcover)

The painter Balthus, nee Balthazar Klossowski, is one of the most original and disturbing of European modern painters.He is something of a cult. I am happy to have received, promptly, this rather smart, large book dedicated entirely to his enigmatic work. This is the capricious plastic world of the elusive painter Balthus, where females endlessly appear, like succubus, gracing an artistic landscape that's both alluring and repulsive. One cannot help but compare some of the imagery in the Interpretation of Dreams by Freud, to the visions depicting Balthus sexual agonies. Look up Balthus 'La Chambre' on page 329, perhaps one of the most inspired and perverse canvases, ever. There is no other painter like him. Like Picasso he shocks, but with a much more simple and personal vocabulary. There is something of El Greco here, the angst. He is limited like Modigliani though soon his ouvre becomes very telling. A persistent parade of pictorially enticing nubiles that is both delicious and repellent. The book by Rizzoli is a treasure almost 500 pages in all. Part art book part encyclopedic tome. Many color pages. In this book by Jean Clair there are, along the many art pages, also photographs, sketches, private correspondence, etc. A lot of personal information offered us fascinated by Balthus. It's a big book that can double as an object d'art. I'm more than pleased with it.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Balthus - More than a glimpse at the work of a genius, May 7, 2007

By 

Nicole Gill-Ottinger "feather" (Chicago) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Balthus (Hardcover)

For those who don't have the resources to purchase Balthus Catalogue Raisonne - the Complete Works, this is a very good secondary choice. Comprehensive in its compilation, Balthus is a joy to own. Throughout the book's pages one discovers this brilliant artist's ingenious talent through text and images, and possibly discerns that he is himself seduced by ingénue and adolescence. I believe Balthus captures this aspect intelligently, albeit somewhat seductively, but there are those who will not agree. There is humor and sadness too in his work. You see both in Balthus' first published work when Mitsou, a small book of drawings emerged. Mitsou was a kitten when found and later lost, that constantly appears as a full grown cat throughout Balthus' paintings. I believe the repetitive appearance of Mitsou illustrates the artist's emotional need for adolescent comfort that continued well beyond puberty. The author informs the reader of this in a very subtle way. Very definitely this is a book that delivers a broad introduction to Balthus where we are given more than a glimpse of his work in animated illustrations, study drawings, theatre set designs, portraits, landscapes, citiscapes, frescoes and still lifes. Furthermore, the author does provide a glance into the artist's interractions with his contemporaries but offers very little about Balthus' private life. I wonder if Balthus shrouded himself in mystery to parlay the truth of genius so often revealed in his paintings? Always distant, his life remains cloaked in contradictions. There are two versions of this book - French and English translation - I recommend them both.