The Bank Austria Kunstforum Wien presents the first retrospective in Austria ever dedicated to Count Balthasar Klossowksi de Rola, called Balthus (1908-2001). Influenced by the art of the Quattrocento, Surrealism, Neue Sachlichkeit and in his later works by East Asian art, Balthus cultivated a style of his own, promoting ‘another Modernism’ remote from the development of all avant-garde movements.
His mysterious, archaic and uncanny images seem to conjure up, among other things, the fantasies of childhood, while not avoiding a certain cruelty. The exhibition reviews all the major themes in Balthus’ work: landscape – from the contrasting polarities of urban landscape and pastoral nature; portrait – from a classical approach to multiple figural compositions; and the female nude, from intimate toilette portrayals to complex interior compositions.
Until June 19th, 2016 at Kunstforum Wien, Vienna, Austria
www.kunstforumwein.at
