BALTHUS 3 ~

Balthus in his studio

Vanished Splendors

  (chapter 58)

   I deeply believe in the genius of painting, which parallels that of childhood. I've used painting as a language without really having decided to do so, because it suits me better than writing. Writing tries to be too explicit and go directly to a meaning. That's why I could never be a writer like many of my friends. Some aspects of my life might be clarified by the present short texts, similar to letters. My son Eustache found a packet of letters I'd sent my first wife, Antoinette de Watterville, the mother of my two sons. All these years later, he thought they were worthy of publication, which he is arranging now. For me, writing can only be in the ellipses, where I express myself, painting conveys this magnificently, sometimes unbeknownst to the painter himself.


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Balthus (Balthasar Klossowski)
Vanishing Splendors
Ecco, 2001
translated from the French by
Benjamin Ivry

http://www.newrepublic.com/article/115658/balthus-cats-and-girls-met-review