Vanished Splendors: A Memoir [Hardcover]

Balthus (Author), Benjamin Ivry (Translator), Joyce Carol Oates (Introduction)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 3, 2002

The painter Balthus, whose tenacity and cultivated taste for secrecy have enveloped him in an aura of forbidding mystery, wrote this memoir at the end of his long life.A man who for decades opted to "give expression to the world" rather than to "express" himself speaks for the first and only time about his life, family, work, his theory of art and how it intersects with history, literature, and spirituality.

Balthus was born Balthasar Klossowski in 1908 to Polish art historian Erich Klossowski and his wife, the painter Elisabeth Dorothea Spiro. The family lived in Germany, France, and Switzerland. In this memoir Balthus describes his childhood with his mother and her lover -- the poet Rainer Maria Rilke -- who became Balthus's own spiritual mentor. He evokes la vie de boheme in Paris during the 1920s, his friendships with Picasso, Derain, Artaud, Giacometti, Saint-Exupéry, René Char, Pierre Jean Jouve, and Albert Camus. He discusses his paintings, offers glimpses into his marriage, and expresses his passion for Chinese art and the Swiss chalets and Italian villas that he helped to restore. He recalls touching moments with his beloved daughter Harumi and the inspiration he drew from his cats. Also, in a kind of final lesson, Balthus shares his thoughts about painting and creation, denounces contemporary art as being illusory and deceitful, and talks candidly about his Catholic faith and how it inspired his work.

"We are most charmed by the memoir's ease of expression, as if Balthus were confiding in us, as individuals," writes Joyce Carol Oates in her introduction to Vanished Splendors. "We are brought into a startling intimacy with genius."

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Before he died late last year at 92, Count Balthasar Klossowski de Rola, commonly known by his painterly name of Balthus, dictated a disparate collection of brief reminiscences and aphorisms to French journalist Vircondelet, who shaped them into this unusual but evocative memoir. Following a 15-page introduction by Joyce Carol Oates, the text is organized into 107 anecdotes and encounters, ranging in length from a few sentences to three pages of double-spaced type, with two sections of illustrations (not seen by PW). Vircondelet weaves together the disparate elements of the artist's memories, descriptions of process, art historical discourses and statements of religious devotion into a loosely interconnected whole that probes just a few themes with ever-greater depth and feeling. The painter introduces the subject of eroticized adolescent girls early on and returns to it repeatedly, rejecting the obvious sexual interpretation of his subject and insisting on his attention to a model's "slow transformation from an angelic state to that of a young girl." In the context of this volume, which details devout Catholicism and a consuming interest in depicting spirit beneath surfaces, this explanation is plausible if not altogether convincing. Elsewhere, Balthus describes his love of early Renaissance painting, and his interest in absorbing the work of Masaccio and Piero della Francesca; he insists, with respect to his own work, "I give no tyrannical orders, but let the painting make itself. The hand receives indications and serves as a humble and faithful tool in attaining self-asserting beauty." He details the rituals of his daily life in Switzerland (managed by his wife, Countess Setsuko) as he continues to paint into old age. This great painter's candid immediacy in bringing to life encounters with the beautiful, famous, talented and with his own genius will have art junkies thoroughly hooked.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Anyone looking for a clear, chronological account of the life of French painter Balthus (1908-2001) should not turn to these memoirs, which were dictated to Vircondelet (Duras) during Balthus's last years. Here, Balthus describes the various episodes of his long life in brief, often hazy vignettes. As he is one of the more secretive artists of the confessional 20th century, he reveals little that is new. Ever defensive about the interpretation of his work (especially his representations of young girls), Balthus tells us again and again just to look at the works themselves. In recounting his early life with his mother, he credits her lover, the poet Rainer Maria Rilke, for his early formation as an artist, and he rarely resorts to mere gossip while reminiscing about life in Paris during the 1920s among such figures as Picasso, Giacometti, and Camus. Though he speaks little of his first marriage and children, Balthus describes in loving detail his later life with wife Setsuko and daughter Haromi. Nicholas Weber's Balthus is recommended for those in search of a less impressionistic rendition of the painter. An intriguing source document for larger collections of contemporary art.
Martin R. Kalfatovic, Smithsonian Inst. Libs., Washington, DC
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: Ecco; 1st [U.S.] ed edition (December 3, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 006621260X
• ISBN-13: 978-0066212609
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.4 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,199,021 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A must read for thinkers of art, March 1, 2005

By 

T. Smith "ty smith art" (Tuscaloosa, AL) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Vanished Splendors: A Memoir (Hardcover)

This Blathus memoir is absolutely beautiful. You feel as if Balthus is sitting right beside you sharing his most personal reflections. He shares not only about his approach to painting but also about many areas he considers to be blessings and difficulties for his life. An intimate and inspiring read. For any young artist or book collector of art this is a must have.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The great Balthus in his own words, January 28, 2004

By 

Curtis G Bower (Cuyahoga Falls, OH United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Vanished Splendors: A Memoir (Hardcover)

When it comes to twentieth century painters, Balthus is one of the most important and certainly one that stands out from the rest. He is enigmatic and people often misunderstand his paintings. Vanished Splendors is Balthus' memoirs that he was working on at the time of his death. In it he puts forth his philosophy on many subjects such as art, modern art, life, religion, family, love and history. He's known or met most of the important artisians of the last century. Picasso, Camus, Artaud, Monet and more. This is a quick read and gives insight into his world and how he painted (he often took years to finish one canvas). Very enjoyable and informative.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The aged artist reflects on his work and life and the beyond, September 10, 2011

By 

C. B Collins Jr. (Atlanta, GA United States) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Vanished Splendors: A Memoir (Hardcover)

I enjoyed reading these short meditatios or memoirs. These memoirs, dictated the year before he died, are small meditations with no chronological order. Rather, they are brief memories expanded upon by the artist with his comments on painting and the artistic community in which he worked. The events he describes are often lacking context and students of art history will be able to make much better sense of these short memories than would someone not familiar with these artists and art movements.

The interpretation of his work is a theme that he returns to repeatedly in these memoirs. Many have pointed to the beautiful young women in slightly suggestive poses are Freudian. Balthus rejects t his interpretation. He tells us that his work is a mirror or passage toward the creative force of the universe or God and that it is the beauty of young girls, which is contemplated for their angelic beauty, and serves as a passage past the actual image toward a spiritual truth. This is not unlike the explanation of the use of icons in the Eastern Orthodox churches. There is much talk of God in these memoirs which due to Balthus' age may be reconciliation with God that might not be so dominant if the memoirs were dictated by a younger man. Balthus tells about his conversion to Catholicism, along with his brother, when he was a young man, so that he might inherit from a Catholic relative.

Balthus' parents divorced and his mother became the lover of poet Rainer Maria Rilke. Despite loyalty to his father, he does credit Rilke with influencing him, especially in the theme that the work of art, poem or painting, should act as a passage to a glimpse of spiritual truth, primarily or the artist but also for the sensitive and meditative viewer. Oddly enough Balthus is harsh on the philosophy and work of the surrealists who indicate the work is a passage to the human unconscious. Balthus listened often to Mozart and his comments and appreciation for Mozart are insightful.

At the time of writing, his two sons by his first marriage are old men, and thus rarely does he discuss his first marriage. More detail is provided about Setsuko and their daughter.Balthus does relate some detail about his family heritage in Poland, he is Count Balthasar Klossowski de Rola and Balthus is his name as an artist.

One major insight for me was that I finally made the connection between the static time frozen aspects of the work of Balthus and that of Piero della Francesca whom he admits is a major influence on his work. Many other artists are mentioned including those with whom he was a friend, Giacometti or Picasso, those older artists that were family friends, Bonnard, and those whom he currently admires, Tapies. His reflection on Bonnard is very nice for when the family of Balthus went bankrupt; Bonnard bought some family personal items from the auction to give back to the family. Bonnard also took an early interest in the paintings of Balthus and advised him to study the works of the Tuscan artists. His commentary on Picasso's output as an old man is also interesting for he relates that in his old age, Picasso painted dozens of canvases a week which Balthus indicates was related to the elderly artist's anxiety. I also found his disdain for Francis Bacon insightful since he says Bacon painted hunks of bloody meat. Balthus is also very leery of the work and persona of Jean Cocteau, whose visibility and action in the world is the opposite of Balthus. The most interesting aspect of the book is the stream of comments Balthus makes regarding the nature of painting and the creative process - all of which ring true.