Balthus: A Biography

by Nicholas Fox Weber

Book Overview

This is the first full-scale biography of one of the most elusive and enigmatic painters of our time: the self-proclaimed Count Balthus Klossowski de Rola, whose brilliant, markedly sexualized... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0679407375
• ISBN13: 9780679407379
• Release Date: October 1999
• Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf
• Length: 644 Pages
• Weight: 2.45 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.9" x 6.8" x 9.6"

Customer Reviews

Ultimate bio on a lucky genius

Success in art ? Not an easy road...In this excellent bio you'll find out how a little nasty detail on the lower left corner of a canvas painted when the artist was only 25 years old, made Balthus into a genius . The book is excellent and Weber completes admirably the Balthus puzzle. Well worth the price to discover the secret in selling your art to the rich and stupid !

Capturing Balthus

This is a superb biography in which the author willingly submits to a cat and mouse game with the husband and wife team of Balthus and Setusko, both of whom seem supremely confident that they can seduce and manipulate the biographer into telling only the tale they feel the world deserves. Like a good psychoanalyst, Weber allows himself to be taken in and then slowly works his way back out, transformed, but intact. There are so many layers to this story that it makes sense for Weber to include his own narrative as a way to contain and to bind. Balthus comes across as a wonderful paradox as Weber experiences him as both tender and sadistic, real and unreal. Perhaps Weber's own propensity for sharing unflattering details of many of the people he meets along the way (a woman fondling her breast during an interview; the outrageously tasteless home of a California collector, are examples) is a natural response to the sadism that Balthus, himself, disowns time and time again. Weber engages in many acts of bravado during the writing of this book and toward the end describes an amazing meeting between Balthus and the author's own two young daughters -- they seem to have been raised with a hearty, self-assurance. At no time does one feel that the author's intrusions are gratuitous. He does a wonderful job of illuminating aspects of Balthus' life, thought,and art, and his psychoanalytic riffs on the paintings ring true and are expressed in a down-to-earth manner. Of course, how could one ever get to the heart of the matter when it comes to Balthus? But in the end, Balthus, the trickster, gets respectfully what he deserves. Certainly it might make him wince, but then for the artist who early on loved to shock, turnabout is fair play. Bravo to Nicholas Fox Weber who allows himself to feel toward his subject a complex set of emotions that when examined helps to capture some truths about this complicated artist.

For Balthus Fans, Obviously

It's certainly the definitive biography of Balthus, although -- as others have noted -- the author becomes too annoyed at the stories Balthus weaves in and out of their conversations. I believe the author is at first seduced by Balthus, and then feels betrayed as he discoves the "truth". Balthus is still right though. It matters not what he says; the only thing that matters is his art. If you are anxious to learn about the person this is an excellent book to read. Balthus and Lucien Freud are the two greatest living 20th century painters. That alone makes any scholarly work (and this is one) interesting. Even with the author somewhat in the way.

enthralling biography and art history combined

The way Weber pulls the reader into his narrative is by asking us to join him in his obsession. It is this seduction and then betrayal by Balthus, that most mysterious of painters, that is really the subject of this amazing book. Critics who miss the point of Weber's dwelling on his personal fascination may criticize him for being too present, as is the biographer's fashion these days, but this isn't one of those books, although at a glance it might seem to be. This is the book Balthus deserves -- a biography that makes us reconsider everything we think we already know.

a magnificent achievement!

Weber has written a life of the artist which considers every nuance of the art first and foremost. And how unusual for a historian to have such a visual sense and to write so well about painting. This is a tremendous work, which should be compared to the Richardson Picasso biography for its scope and intelligence. It's a highly personal way of telling the story, but unlike certain biographies of the season, the biographer's presence is rarely an intrusion. Brilliant. Mesmerizing. No matter what you think you know about Balthus, it will change when you read this.