Balthus

Balthus was born 29th February 1908 and died on the 19th February 2001. He was a French painter in the second half of the 20th century, famous for his somewhat disturbing paintings of pubescent girls and for his association with some of the greats in modern art, including Pablo Picasso and Salvador Dali.

 

Balthus Biography (Artist) — Infoplease.com http://www.infoplease.com/biography/var/balthus.html#ixzz2HUE3B7dS

 

Many of Balthus' paintings are about prepubertal girls in domestic situations who are discovering their sexuality. I presume these paintings would seen as the work of a dirty old aristocrat who got off on the bodies of young girls:a sexual pervert. The erotic appeal of the painting would be seen as quite calculated.

They would be seen as akin to, and a precursor of mainstream pornography's obsession with female "teens" and our market culture's fetishisation of girls and young women. It's teen porn that encourages consumers to see pre-pubescent girls and teenagers as sexual objects and as always sexually available.

Balthus' paintings express a world very different from ours. Another world in fact. What strikes me about this painting and many like it is how the common place gestures in everyday life hide a tragic universe of silence.

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'La Chambre' 1954



'Drawing Room' 1943



'Patience' 1943



'Nude with Cat' 1949