Balthus, artist, 92

["Deathwatch Central" <cdw@slick.org>]

Sunday February 18 12:32 PM ET

Artist Balthus Dies, Aged 92 

By CLARE NULLIS, Associated Press Writer 

GENEVA (AP) - Balthus, one of the 20th century's greatest realist painters
best known for his erotic - some said pornographic - portrayal of
adolescent beauties, has died. He was just short of his 93rd birthday.

Balthus, who had been ailing for some time, died Sunday afternoon at his
home in the mountain village of Rossiniere, the mayor Daniel Martin said.

No cause of death was immediately given.

Balthus inspired and influenced the art world for more than six
decades. But as a person, he long remained a mystery to all but a handful
of intimate friends.

``Balthus is a painter of whom nothing is known,'' was his most often
quoted self-analysis - given to organizers of a 1968 art exhibition at
London's Tate Gallery.

There was even uncertainty over his name.

Balthus called himself Count Balthazar Klossowski de Rola, saying that he
came from an ancient Polish family whose male members had the rank of
count. The Rola coat of arms was created in 1044 to commemorate a family
marriage, he said.

Balthus was born in Paris on February 29, 1908 - a date which allowed him
to joke on his 92nd birthday that he was in fact only 23.

At his first one-man show in Paris in 1934, Balthus caused a stir with his
erotically suggestive ``Guitar Lesson'' - a painting of a half-naked girl
spread-eagled over the knees of an older woman who sexually fondling
her. A guitar lies discarded by their feet.

Other provocative works included ``Alice'' (1933), ``Toilette de Cathy''
(1933) and ``Andre Derain'' (1936). 



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