La Séance de pose

Details

Balthus (1908-2001)
La Séance de pose
signed with the artist's monogram 'Bs' (lower left)
pencil on paper
13¾ x 18 7/8 in. (35 x 48 cm.)
Drawn in 1975

Provenance

The artist's estate, and thence by descent to the present owner.

Literature

V. Monnier & J. Clair, Catalogue raisonné of the Complete Works, Paris, 1999, no. D 1348 (illustrated p. 373).

Exhibited

Andros, Museum of Contemporary Art, Basil & Elise Goulandris Foundation, Balthus, dessins, aquarelles, huiles, June - September 1990, no. 107.
Rome, Villa Medici, Balthus à la Villa Médicis, October - November 1990, p. 183.
Lausanne, Musée cantonal des Beaux-Arts, Balthus, May - August 1993.
Vevey, Musée Jenisch, De Piero della Francesca Alberto Giacometti, May - August 2002, no. 93, (illustrated p. 100).
Martigny, Fondation Gianadda, Balthus, June - November 2008, no. 146, p. 235 (illustrated).

Special Notice

Artist's Resale Right ("Droit de Suite"). Artist's Resale Right Regulations 2006 apply to this lot, the buyer agrees to pay us an amount equal to the resale royalty provided for in those Regulations, and we undertake to the buyer to pay such amount to the artist's collection agent. VAT rate of 5% is payable on hammer price and at 20% on the buyer's premium.

Brought to you by

Cornelia Svedman

csvedman@christies.com +44 (0)20 7389 2561

Lot Essay

La Séance de pose depicts a young girl posing languidly for the 'modeling session' that gives the drawing its title. With one leg raised and bent provocatively at the knee, this is a subject that Balthus explored in a series of twelve drawings executed in Rome in 1975, where he was Director of the Villa Medici from 1961 to 1977 (cf. Clair & Monnier nos. D1344-1355). The artist's presence within the composition relates the drawing to the oil Le peintre et son modèle (ibid. P34; Centre Georges-Pompidou, Paris); however in contrast to the oil, in which the artist turns away from his model, in the present work he depicts himself leaning over the table in intense study of his model.

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