Balthus

I use this product as an inspiration for my art works - this is a most brilliant book

Arrivé très rapidement, et en parfait état.Livre dont les photos sont de belle qualité,ce qui est important pour un livre sur la peinture!

R.A.S POU MON ACHATCONFORME A MON ATTENTE POUR CE LIVREUN SIMPLE REPROCHE L’ÉTIQUETTE SUR LE LIVRE JE N'AIME PAS

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This Taschen publication is full of reproductions of the work of Balthus at a reasonable price. Balthus has been a controversial artist for almost eighty years, primarily because his frequent subject matter is the nude or partially nude young woman, often on the very verge of womanhood in that period between childhood and adolescence. The works have been under attack at times for their depiction of these young girl women in poses that might be interpreted as provocative. However in his later years Balthus claimed that these beautiful young women were like icons, beautiful earthly images that attest to a spiritual beyond. The contemplation of these beautiful nude girls, certainly one of the most beautiful visions for human beings, acts as a window into a spiritual reality or communion with the natural forces of nature and the universe. Contemplation of the beautiful girls in the year they become women acts as a path to a higher spiritual reality. This book offers an opportunity to test these two hypotheses, are these sexually charged paintings of children or are they icons acting as paths toward a higher spiritual reality? A view of these paintings would support both hypotheses. The painting `Guitar Lesson' is certainly a challenge to the icon hypothesis for even 77 years after it was painted it is shocking. Yet `Girl at a Window' painted in 1957 would be a fine example of the assertion of Balthus that the image is a path toward a higher spiritual awareness.Balthus on several occasions related his debt to the works of Piero Della Francesca and this is very revealing for Balthus' approach to the figure in space is very similar for the Renaissance fresco painter. The compositional structures are tight, geometric, use perspective, but also feel enclosed, much as in the work of Della Francesca. The handling of the paint is also much like Della Francisca for it is flat and dry, there appears to be only minimal medium used, and thus flat effects are created, much like in a fresco. The painting "The Street" is often identified as using both figure and ground, perspective and tone in the manner of della Francesca. However, the wonder painting `the Room' also reveals the monumentality of the human figure that della Francesca was able to achieve.There are over 90 illustrations in the book displaying the wide range of his work. When Balthus was at this best, he was superb and often sublime. "Girl in Red and Green (the Candlestick)" is a solid study in light and dark. Balthus contrasts the lighted side of the girl's face with her dark green shirt whereas the contrasts the darker shadowed side of her face against a bold red shirt sleeve. The compositional structure of "Nude with a Cat (Nude with a Basin)" is absolutely perfect and brilliant. The balance of the curves and diagonals of the nude against the horizontals and verticals of the bedroom furniture is exceptional. There are four landscapes included in this book that have that unreal silence that permeates his work. This is an excellent collection of the work of a mysterious man.