Balthus

Although not part of any contemporary painting trend, Count Balthasar Klossowski de Rola, better known as Balthus, has been gradually gaining recognition for his work over the past 20 years - particularly since an exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in New York in 1983. Often characterized as brooding and intense, his work is known for its figural representations, primarily women and children, within seemingly commonplace interiors which, upon closer inspection, reveal undercurrents of eroticism, despair and instability. This candid monograph by a lifelong friend, reveals much about the artist's life and reproduces many of his paintings.