Balthus (Balthazar Klossowski de Rola)

Pierre Matisse Gallery, New York
Acquired from the above on May 17, 1969

New York, Pierre Matisse Gallery, Balthus Paintings 1929-1961, 1962, no. 16
Cambridge, The New Hayden Gallery, The Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Balthus, 1964, no. 22
Chicago, Arts Club of Chicago, Balthus, 1964, no. 24
Paris, Arts Décoratifs, Galerie Henriette Gomès, Balthus, 1966, no. 40
Knokke-le-Zoute, Casino Municipale, Balthus, 1966, no. 40
London, Tate Gallery, Balthus, 1968, no. 52

Jean Leymarie, Balthus, New York, 1978, illustrated pl. 32 (1990 edition pl. 33)
Jean Leymarie, Balthus, New York, 1982, illustrated pl. 86 and p. 136 (1990 edition pl. 77 and p. 139)
Balthus (exhibition catalogue), Musée national d'Art moderne, Paris; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1983, no. 207, illustrated p. 375
Jean Clair, Metamorphosen des Eros, Essay über Balthus, Munich, 1984, fig. 12, illustrated p. 25
Xiaosheng Xing, Balthus, Shanghai, 1995, illustrated pl. 52
Claude Roy, "Notizien zu Balthus," Du, Zürich, 1996, p. 59
Jean Clair, Balthus, Les métamorphoses d'Eros, Paris, 1996, p. 30
Virginie Monnier and Jean Clair, Balthus, Catalogue Raisonné of the Complete Works, Paris, 1999, no. P308, illustrated p. 187

L'Enfant aux pigeons occupies an exclusive place within Balthus' oeuvre.  Begun in 1959 and completed in 1960, it was one of only ten paintings that he produced in these two years.  Balthus'  famous reclusiveness at his chateau in Rossinière (see fig. 1), Switzerland, combined with his own selective attitude about his art, contributed to his relatively limited output -- a factor which concerned his dealer Pierre Matisse.  "It seems that you are suffering from conditions that are considerably slowing down the rhythm of your work,"  Matisse complained in a letter to the artist in 1961 (Pierre Matisse and His Artists (exhibition catalogue), The Pierpont Morgan Library, New York, 2002, p. 254).  This slow-down in production, though, resulted in a select group of monumental figure paintings that Matisse exhibited in his gallery in January 1962.  L'Enfant aux pigeons made its debut at this relatively small exhibition, which received hearty praise in a review from Philadelphia Inquirer: "The reticent, great French painter Balthus possesses the faculty to transform reality into poetry.  Uncompromisingly committed to the representational aspect of painting, the strong individuality of Balthus created a unique style apparently realistic yet exuding a deeply psychological atmosphere" (ibid.).

Like the other paintings that Balthus completed at the end of the 1950s, this picture has a certain etheral quality that is a result of the particular application of paint.  The raised texture of the medium on the surface of the canvas creates a hazy appearance and lends an air of mysticism to the composition.  The sharp outline of the figure and the other elements in the foreground appear crisp against the soft-focus of the background, enhancing our perception of perspectival depth.   Balthus used this technique in another picture from 1959, La Phalène, in which he employed a similarly sharp checkerboard pattern to contrast with softer elements of the background (see fig. 2).  

L'Enfant aux pigeons is one of the few of Balthus' major paintings with a young boy as its subject.  Although the identity of this character is never specified, Balthus' images of children are said to be inspired by illustrations for the children's story, Struwwelpeter, by Heinrich Hoffmann and those for Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland by John Tenniel. Claude Roy suggests that the boy in this picture was perhaps also inspired by a figure that appears in La Rue, 1933, currently in The Museum of Modern Art (see fig. 3).  

While most of Balthus' large compositions featured young women or girls as the central characters (see fig. 4), the choice of a male character is an interesting change from the norm.   Unlike the depictions of adolescent girls that unnerve the viewer with references to pubescent sexuality, this picture is startling in its ostensible innocence.    The male figure here is fully clothed and physically asexual, dressed in a boxy shirt like a monk or clergyman.  But the long-spouted watering can and stick that the boy holds in either hand hint at other Freudian possiblities of interpretation.   The flittering birds at the window above the sprouting plant seem to transfix this young boy, perhaps alluding to a sudden sexual awakening.   It is important to remember that during the early years of his career Balthus was associated with the Surrealist painters, and he continued to invest his pictures with symbols and signifiers of sexuality.  That said, we are left to contemplate the significance of this scene as it is revealed to us and to the boy through the parted window curtain at the edge of the canvas. 

Whatever our conclusions may be, the artist had the following to say about this significance of his paintings: "Look kindly upon my efforts: they are the work of a man who strives to find a way out of the chaos that dominates the end of the twentieth century" (quoted in Virginie Monnier and Jean Clair, Balthus, Catalogue Raisonné of the Complete Works, Paris, 1999, p. 7). 

Fig. 1, Photograph of the artist in 1953. Photo Lipnitzki/Viollet

Fig. 2, Balthus, Le Phalène, 1959, Casine and tempera on canvas, Musée national d'Art moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris

Fig. 3, Balthus, La Rue, 1933, oil on canvas, The Museum of Modern Art, New York

Fig. 4, Balthus, Golden Afternoon, 1957, oil on canvas, sold: Sotheby's, New York, May 6, 2003, lot 138