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.
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.
Martin R. Kalfatovic, Smithsonian Inst. Libs., Washington, DC
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.
