Balthus: Time Suspended

by Sabine Rewald

Balthus (1908-2001) is one of the truly enigmatic personalities among the painters of the 20th century. Born Balthazar Klossowski de Rola, he grew up in Berlin, Switzerland and Paris, and later moved back and forth between France, the Far East and Rome. Continually crossing all sorts of borders, he remained an outsider throughout his life. His art was a sensuous and poetical admixture of fairytale, Eros and dreams; it was figurative in an age of abstraction and painted using the techniques of Italian Quattrocento fresco - in other words, at no point did it fit any customary category.

Genres: Art

164 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1984

Reviews

[Catherine Corman · Rating 5 out of 5]

As for books, I never cared for them.

-Georgette Cozlin, muse to Balthus during the war