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Klossowski Balthus
"Art is to refuse mediocrity."
+ Stamp
Stamp by Klossowski Balthus
The publication of a postal stamp is often a homage paid by a nation to a place, an event, a remarkable cause or a character which count. The painters and other artists do not escape from this rule. Some are however "forgotten" of postal art. Here, gathered below (French or foreign), emitted stamps (206) or simple studies of stamp (224) in homage to the artists represented on our website. The first French stamp was emitted in 1849, England preceded us by ten years. There is often a share of voyage in this small form of shape paper. The stamp circulates, sails, flies away, it makes dream, then dream a little. M.C.
When the stamp is really emitted, the artist name is preceded of an asterisk (*). It is certain that we do not know each stamp emitted for such or such artist; do not hesitate with us to make known them!
Discover all the stamps
+ Autograph
Artist’s handwritten wrap letter
Private collection / This document is not for sale
+ Listen
Listen
+ Watch
Watch
+ A tribute to...
See all the tribute pages...
A tribute to Klossowski Balthus
Sorry this section is only available in french for now.
En 1977, Balthazar Klossowski, dit Balthus, se retire à Rossinières (Pays de Vaud, Suisse) pour continuer à peindre paysages et scènes intimistes. L’homme dont l’oeuvre est si singulière, ascète et épicurien, s’y éteint dans son chalet aux 113 fenêtres le 18 février 2001. Le chanteur Bono du groupe U2 chanta à ses obsèques, puis deux chevaux portèrent le cercueil drapé de noir de l’artiste jusqu’au pied de la colline où il repose, dans un champ. En hommage, une fleur de plus dans ce champ . . .
"Depuis longtemps, la notion d'avant garde en peinture ne signifie plus rien. Les faux amateurs d'art, les spéculateurs achètent ce qu'ils ne savent pas déchiffrer, de peur de rater le coche." - Balthus
"Quand je peins, je n'essaie pas de m'exprimer, mais plutôt d'exprimer le monde." - Balthus
"L'oeuvre du peintre, pour lui, c'est de refuser la boue, c'est tourner le dos à ce qui, dans l'art de notre époque, en croyant exprimer sa singularité, tire en fait l'être en arrière, et le ramène au magma." - Jean Clair (son biographe)
"Cette peinture tellurique sent la peste, la tempête et les épidémies." - Antonin Artaud
"Je suis né dans ce siècle, mais j'appartiens bien davantage au 19ème siècle." - Balthus
"Rodin me racontait un jour qu’en lisant l’Imitation de Jésus-Christ, il remplaçait partout le nom de Dieu par le mot « Sculpture » ; c’est ainsi que vous devez, en parcourant ce digne document, remplacer mon nom qui y figure, par le vôtre ; car ma contribution à votre ouvrage sera trop petite pour que je m’arroge ce rôle prépondérant que je n’ai dû assumer que par la convention du traité. Votre part à cette œuvre était toute travail et douleur ; la mienne sera mince et elle ne sera que plaisir." - Rilke (Lettres à un jeune peintre, Balthus)
Notes of biography
Balthasar Klossowski de Rola, known as Balthus, was born in Paris in 1908 in an artist family. He began drawing and painting very young, encouraged by the poet Rainer Maria Rilke, his mother’s friend after she parted with his father. Balthus was born artist, and he said he learnt drawing as well as anyone who learns how to speak.
With his first works, he was deliberately far from the avant-gardes of the XX° century, and wished to be the large traditional Masters heir’s, with a perfect technique and compositions put in scene with precision. His first personal exhibition was organized in 1934. The artist painted in a singular way topics which were important for him: landscapes, scenes of the everyday life, interiors, portraits, naked of girls or young boys. The sexual set of themes in his works created sometimes a scandal: “The Lesson of guitar” (1934) was thus withdrawn from the sight of the American public. The cat became a recurring animal which he added in his canvases and his drawings. Balthus’s world was built with nostalgic and timeless pleasure, a world where the dream was unconscious.
In 1953, Balthus left the Parisian artistic circle to live in le château de Chassy, close to Château-Chinon (Morvan), where he stayed until 1961. In 1961 until 1977 the artist became director of the Villa Medicis; he invited his boarders to ponder on the history of art. Balthus created costumes and decorations for the theatre (Antonin Artaud, Jean-Louis Barrault), he also illustrated works for the literature.
In 1977, Balthus settled down in Rossinières (Swiss). He died there in 2001. Balthus, mysterious man, shared his life between asceticism and epicureanism. In 1983, the national Museum of modern art (Centre George Pompidou) organized the first great retrospective of his work. Same retrospective was presented in the Metropolitan Museum of New York, then by the museum of Kyoto. It was then the occasion for the general public to discover this painter.
Artists on display
The art and the artists display: proclamations, galleries, museums, personal or collective exhibitions. On walls or in shop windows, wise or rebels, posters warn, argue, show. Some were specially conceived by an artist for such or such event, other, colder, have only the letter.
Some were created in lithographic technic, most are simple offset reproductions. They are many those who like collecting these rectangles of paper, monochrome or in games of colours, in matt paper or brilliant, with many words or almost dumb.
We are happy also to be able to greet, by this pages, mythical galleries as those of Denise René, Louis Carré, Claude Bernard, Berheim Jeune, Maeght, Pierre Loeb and others.
Complete work(s)
Complete work(s)
*« Balthus », C. Roy et J. Leymarie, Ed. Séguier, Paris, 1991 *« L’oeuvre complet », J. Clair, Ed. Gallimard, Paris, 1999 All the complete worksBibliographic track and more
To read about the artist :
- « Balthus », J. Leymarie, Skira, Genève, 1990
- « Balthus », Claude Roy, Ed. Gallimard, Paris, 1996
- « Balthus , un atelier dans le Morvan », cat. d'expo., Musée de Dijon, 1999
- « Balthus à contre-courant », C. Costantini, Ed. Noir sur Blanc, Paris, 2001
- « Balthus, rétrospective », Palazzo Grassi, Venise, 2001
- « Balthus, biographie », S. Taylor-Wood, Le Seuil, Paris, 2003
- « Balthus, une biographie », Nicholas Fox Weber, Ed Fayard 2003
- « Le Paradoxe Balthus », R. Aubert, Ed. de la Différence, 2005
- « Exposition du Centenaire », J. Clair et D. Radrizzani, Fd Pierre Gianadda, 2008
- « Portraits privés », P. Berger, R. Martin, F. Rouan et R. Char, Ed. Noir sur Blanc, 2008
To read from the artist :
- « Correspondance amoureuse avec A. de Watteville », Buchet-Chastel, Pars, 2001
- « Mémoires », textes rassemblés par A. Vircondelet, Ed. Le Rocher, 2016
Website :
www.fondation-balthus.com/More :
+ Stamp
Stamp by Klossowski Balthus
The publication of a postal stamp is often a homage paid by a nation to a place, an event, a remarkable cause or a character which count. The painters and other artists do not escape from this rule. Some are however "forgotten" of postal art. Here, gathered below (French or foreign), emitted stamps (206) or simple studies of stamp (224) in homage to the artists represented on our website. The first French stamp was emitted in 1849, England preceded us by ten years. There is often a share of voyage in this small form of shape paper. The stamp circulates, sails, flies away, it makes dream, then dream a little. M.C.
When the stamp is really emitted, the artist name is preceded of an asterisk (*). It is certain that we do not know each stamp emitted for such or such artist; do not hesitate with us to make known them!
Discover all the stamps
+ Autograph
Artist’s handwritten wrap letter
Private collection / This document is not for sale
+ Listen
Listen
+ Watch
Watch
+ A tribute to...
See all the tribute pages...
A tribute to Klossowski Balthus
Sorry this section is only available in french for now.
En 1977, Balthazar Klossowski, dit Balthus, se retire à Rossinières (Pays de Vaud, Suisse) pour continuer à peindre paysages et scènes intimistes. L’homme dont l’oeuvre est si singulière, ascète et épicurien, s’y éteint dans son chalet aux 113 fenêtres le 18 février 2001. Le chanteur Bono du groupe U2 chanta à ses obsèques, puis deux chevaux portèrent le cercueil drapé de noir de l’artiste jusqu’au pied de la colline où il repose, dans un champ. En hommage, une fleur de plus dans ce champ . . .
"Depuis longtemps, la notion d'avant garde en peinture ne signifie plus rien. Les faux amateurs d'art, les spéculateurs achètent ce qu'ils ne savent pas déchiffrer, de peur de rater le coche." - Balthus
"Quand je peins, je n'essaie pas de m'exprimer, mais plutôt d'exprimer le monde." - Balthus
"L'oeuvre du peintre, pour lui, c'est de refuser la boue, c'est tourner le dos à ce qui, dans l'art de notre époque, en croyant exprimer sa singularité, tire en fait l'être en arrière, et le ramène au magma." - Jean Clair (son biographe)
"Cette peinture tellurique sent la peste, la tempête et les épidémies." - Antonin Artaud
"Je suis né dans ce siècle, mais j'appartiens bien davantage au 19ème siècle." - Balthus
"Rodin me racontait un jour qu’en lisant l’Imitation de Jésus-Christ, il remplaçait partout le nom de Dieu par le mot « Sculpture » ; c’est ainsi que vous devez, en parcourant ce digne document, remplacer mon nom qui y figure, par le vôtre ; car ma contribution à votre ouvrage sera trop petite pour que je m’arroge ce rôle prépondérant que je n’ai dû assumer que par la convention du traité. Votre part à cette œuvre était toute travail et douleur ; la mienne sera mince et elle ne sera que plaisir." - Rilke (Lettres à un jeune peintre, Balthus)
Art movements
All art movements
See & discover
Beyond works currently in stock, it seemed to me useful to combine business with pleasure by letting you discover others works by artists in my gallery. These artworks, now sold or removed from our website, have been in our stock in the past.
These pages will undoubtedly make it possible for some of you to associate an image with its title or the other way round, for others it will be a good time to discover more on such and such artist. For the sake of confidentiality – the pieces being no longer available – we won't display neither their numbering or their price. For whatever reason, make sure to visit this amazing art database with to date 6441 online works just for your pleasure! Michelle Champetier
See & discover