Thérèse Blanchard (1925–50) poses in Balthus’s studio at 3 Cour de Rohan in Paris. Between 1936 and 1939, he painted ten portraits of this young neighbor, alone as here, with her cast, or with her brother. Thérèse inaugurated the leitmotif of the artist’s oeuvre, of a girl poised between childhood and adolescence.
Inscription: Signed and dated (lower left): Balthus 1938
[Pierre Colle, Paris, from 1938]; [Obelisk Gallery, London, until 1958; sold in 1958 to Emil]; Mr. and Mrs. Allan D. Emil, New York (1958–his d. 1976); Mrs. Allan D. Emil, New York (1976–d. 1987; their bequest to MMA)
New York. Pierre Matisse Gallery. "Balthus Paintings," March 21–April 16, 1938, no. 15 (as "Fillette au gilet rouge").
London. Obelisk Gallery. 1958.
New York. American Federation of Arts Gallery. 1963, no. 1.
New York. M. Knoedler & Company, Inc. "Lawyers Collect: An Exhibition of Painting and Sculpture Selected from the Private Collections of Members of the New York Bar," January 13–30, 1965, no. 5 (as "The Housekeeper's Daughter," 1936, lent by Mr. and Mrs. Allan D. Emil).
Paris. Musée des Arts Décoratifs. "Balthus," May 12–June 27, 1966, no. 7 (lent by Mr. and Mrs. Allan D. Emil, New York).
Knokke-le-Zoute. Casino Communal. "Balthus," July–September 1966, no. 7 (lent by Mr. and Mrs. Allan D. Emil, New York).
London. Tate Gallery. "Balthus," October 4–November 10, 1968, no. 11 (lent by Mr. and Mrs. Allan D. Emil, New York).
Detroit. Donald Morris Gallery. "A Benefit Exhibition of Balthus Paintings and Drawings for The City School of Detroit, L'Ecole Française," November 24–December 20, 1969, no. 7 (lent by Mr. and Mrs. Allan D. Emil, New York).
Marseilles. Musée Cantini. "Balthus," July–September 1973, no. 6 (lent by M. et Mme Allan D. Emil, New York).
Paris. Centre Georges Pompidou, Musée national d'art moderne. "Balthus," November 5, 1983–January 23, 1984, no. 19 (lent by Mme Allan D. Emil).
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Balthus," February 29–May 13, 1984, no. 18 (lent by Mrs. Allan D. Emil).
Cologne. Museum Ludwig. "Bilderstreit: Widerspruch, Einheit und Fragment in der Kunst seit 1960," April 8–June 28, 1989, no. 30.
Mexico City. Centro Cultural Arte Contemporáneo. "Octavio Paz: Los Privilegios de la Vista," March–June 1990, no. 244.
Musée cantonal des Beaux-Arts, Lausanne. "Balthus," May 29–August 29, 1993, unnumbered cat. (p. 22).
Tokyo Station Gallery. "Balthus," November 3, 1993–January 30, 1994, no. 5.
Madrid. Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía. "Balthus," January 30–April 1, 1996, unnumbered cat.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Painters in Paris: 1895–1950," March 8–December 31, 2000, extended to January 14, 2001, unnumbered cat. (p. 110).
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Balthus Remembered," March 27–May 27, 2001, no catalogue.
Kyoto Municipal Museum of Art. "Picasso and the School of Paris: Paintings from The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York," September 14–November 24, 2002, no. 65 (as "Thérèse Awake").
Tokyo. Bunkamura Museum of Art. "Picasso and the School of Paris: Paintings from The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York," December 7, 2002–March 9, 2003, no. 65.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The Pierre and Maria-Gaetana Matisse Collection," May 18, 2004–June 26, 2005, no catalogue (checklist no. 2; as "Thérèse Awake") [on view until February 2005].
Madrid. Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza. "Mimesis: Realismos Modernos, 1918–45," October 11, 2005–January 8, 2006, no. 49.
Cologne. Museum Ludwig. "Balthus: Aufgehobene Zeit. Gemälde and Zeichnungen 1932–1960 / Balthus: Time Suspended. Paintings and Drawings 1932–1960," August 18–November 4, 2007, no. 14.
Ottawa. National Gallery of Canada. "The 1930s: The Making of 'The New Man'," June 6–September 7, 2008, no. 156.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Balthus: Cats and Girls—Paintings and Provocations," September 25, 2013–January 12, 2014, no. 8.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art [The Met Breuer]. "Kerry James Marshall Selects: Works from The Metropolitan Museum of Art," October 25, 2016–January 29, 2017, no catalogue (p. 266 in "Kerry James Marshall: Mastry" exhibition catalogue).
Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid. "Balthus," February 19–May 26, 2019, unnumbered cat.
Stuart Preston. "Art History's Many Turning Points." New York Times (January 17, 1965), ill. p. X19.
"'The Housekeeper's Daughter'." Cosmopolitan 158 (April 1965), ill. p. 91 (color), dates it 1936.
John Russell inBalthus. Exh. cat., Tate Gallery. London, 1968, pp. 8, 37, no. 11, ill. p. 54.
Keith Roberts. "London." Burlington Magazine 110 (November 1968), p. 645, fig. 61.
Jean Leymarie. Balthus. 2nd enl. ed. (1st ed., 1979). New York, 1982, ill. p. 130.
Stanislas Klossowski de Rola. Balthus. London, 1983, p. 95, colorpl. 14, locates it in a private collection.
Gérard Régnier, ed. Balthus. Exh. cat., Centre Georges Pompidou, Musée national d'art moderne. Paris, 1983, p. 144, no. 19, ill. pp. 145 (color), 348, no. 53.
Sabine Rewald. Balthus. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1984, pp. 90–91, no. 18, ill. (color), compares it to Courbet's painting "Juliette Courbet" (1844; Musée du Petit Palais, Paris).
Mahonri Sharp Young. "Letter from the U.S.A.: Balthus at The Metropolitan." Apollo 119 (June 1984), p. 445, fig. 3.
John Russell. "Art View: Balthus Mesmerizes with His Chilling Imagery." New York Times (February 19, 1984), ill. p. H32.
Sabine Rewald in "Twentieth Century Art." Recent Acquisitions: A Selection, 1986–1987. New York, 1987, p. 74, ill. (color).
Jean Leymarie. Balthus. Rev. enl. ed. (1st ed., 1979). New York, 1990, unpaginated.
Jörg Zutter inBalthus. Ed. Jörg Zutter. Exh. cat., Musée cantonal des Beaux-Arts, Lausanne. Geneva, 1993, pp. 21–22, ill. (color).
Jean Leymarie inBalthus. Exh. cat., Tokyo Station Gallery. Tokyo, 1993, pp. 21, 126, no. 5, ill. (color) front cover and p. 45.
Stanislas Klossowski de Rola. Balthus. New York, 1996, colorpl. 18.
Claude Roy. Balthus. [Paris], 1996, ill. p. 106 (color).
Jean Leymarie inBalthus. Exh. cat., Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía. Madrid, 1996, pp. 18, 151, ill. n. p. (color).
Solange Auzias de Turenne et al. Omaggio a Balthus. Exh. cat., Accademia Valentino, Rome. Milan, 1996, ill. p. 73 (color).
Emma Crichton-Miller. "Behind Those Tactile Layers of Paint." Financial Times (London) (March 1, 1997), p. 8.
Sabine Rewald. "Balthus's Thérèses." Metropolitan Museum Journal 33 (1998), p. 305, fig. 3.
Virginie Monnier in Virginie Monnier and Jean Clair. Balthus: Catalogue Raisonné of the Complete Works. Paris, 1999, pp. 134–35, no. P113, ill.
Virginie Monnier inBalthus. Ed. Jean Clair. Exh. cat., Palazzo Grassi, Venice. [Milan], 2001, pp. 262–63, no. 58, ill. (color).
Philip Rylands. "Venice: Balthus." Burlington Magazine 143 (December 2001), p. 782.
William Packer. "The Maestro and the Myth." Financial Times (London) (September 15, 2001), p. 7.
David Ekserdjian. "Exhibition Reviews: Balthus at Palazzo Grassi." Apollo 154 (October 2001), p. 49, fig. 1 (color).
Tomàs Llorens inMimesis: Realismos Modernos, 1918–45. Ed. Tomàs Llorens. Exh. cat., Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza. Madrid, 2005, pp. 113, 265, no. 49, ill. (color) p. 137 and back cover.
Sabine Rewald. Balthus: Time Suspended. Paintings and Drawings 1932–1960. Exh. cat., Museum Ludwig, Cologne. Munich, 2007, pp. 21–22, 70–71, 158, no. 14, ill. (color).
Andrew Brink. Desire and Avoidance in Art: Pablo Picasso, Hans Bellmer, Balthus, and Joseph Cornell. Psychobiographical Studies with Attachment Theory. New York, 2007, pp. 121, 125.
Camille Viéville. Balthus et le portrait. Paris, 2011, pp. 151, 180, fig. 132 (color).
Sabine Rewald. Balthus: Cats and Girls. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2013, pp. 6, 8–9, 24, 66, 76, 90, 100, no. 8, ill. p. 77 (color) and fig. 6 (color).
Roberta Smith. "Infatuations, Female and Feline." New York Times (September 27, 2013), p. C30.
Kathryn Calley Galitz. The Metropolitan Museum of Art Masterpiece Paintings. New York, 2016, p. 527, ill. (color), colorpl. 458.
Beate Söntgen inBalthus. Ed. Raphaël Bouvier. Exh. cat., Fondation Beyeler, Basel. Basel, 2018, pp. 139, 164, ill. p. 43 (color).
Editorial Assistant Nadja Hansen spoke with Sabine Rewald, curator of Balthus: Cats and Girls—Paintings and Provocations, to discuss her personal fascination with the artist and her latest research regarding Balthus's subjects.
Balthus (Balthasar Klossowski) (French, Paris 1908–2001 Rossinière)
1985
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