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Balthus |
By Claude Roy |
| Bulfinch Press, Little, Brown and Company, Boston, New York, Toronto, London, 1996, pp. 269, $65, hardcover. |
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| Only a poet could best express the haunting qualities of Balthazar Klossowski de Rola's work, so difficult to dissect because of its singularity: the artist's call to follow only his own vision is often both exasperating and riveting for those attempting to understand it. Thus Claude Roy's examination of the results "Balthus obtains by intriguing us with what is commonplace, surprising us with what is ordinary, turning what is familiar into some strange effect" couldn't be more appropriate to the task. Besides his role as an author of several monographs on Twentieth Century artists, Roy is also a novelist, essayist and poet as well as close friend of the artist. Rich language, coupled with abundant images of Balthus' work (the majority of which are wonderful color plates), provide the most well-rounded exploration possible of the artist's life and influences. Roy goes a fascinating step further by including the recollections of artists who knew and were, in turn, influenced by Balthus. The author's interview with his subject, which makes up the last chapter in this intruiging book, adds yet another facet to what will always be a fragmented and mysterious figure in Twentieth Century art.
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