Balthus’ THE STREET: Art or Sexualized Teen?

The New York Times declared The Street: Curated by Peter Doig a Critic’s Pick. Doig’s exhibition, located at the Gagosian on 980 Madison Avenue until December 18, was inspired by Balthus’ The Street (1933).

In the New York Times piece, “Peter Doig Finds the Soul and Menace of a Modernist Gem” (Nov. 28, 2024), Arthur Lubow wrote that Doig was captivated The Street, which Doig found “endlessly beguiling”, because the painting made “you feel like you’re witnessing something unfold before your eyes.”

As it relates to The Street, Lubow related that: “It is owned but infrequently displayed by the Museum of Modern Art,” which is related to what one is witnessing “before your eyes.” Per Nicholas Fox Weber’s Balthus: A Biography (Alfred A. Knopf, 1999), The Street, in part, depicts a: “[...] man at the edge of ecstasy reaching over the hem of the girl's hiked-up skirt toward the young girl's genitals."

Balthus’ The Street (Modified)

Weber wrote that James Thrall Soby, a curator and the first American “bold enough” to collect Balthus’ work, purchased The Street in Paris in 1936. Weber related that Soby: "[...] was keyed up by - in his own words - the young girl being seized by the crotch [...]" However, three years after the purchase, due to the salacious nature of the piece, The Street hadn’t sold. Weber wrote:

Soby, whose taste in art was "bold enough to confront the formidable", purchased The Street in Paris in 1936 and promptly placed it on a wall in his Farmington, Connecticut home. Soby admitted that The Street hadn't sold in three years due to "[...] the depiction of the young man at the edge of ecstasy reaching over the hem of the girl's hiked-up skirt toward the young girl's genitals."

And after Soby noticed that his five-year-old step-son and his playmates would: "[...] titter wildly over The Street," Soby placed the painting in a fireproof vault.

Balthus’ The Street (Original)

Weber wrote that in 1955, Reverend James L. McLane: "[...] bawled out [Soby] for three hours for being so cowardly as to hide a great painting away in a darkened vault". (Interestingly, per Weber, the Reverend hung some of Balthus' other "most provocative" paintings of nymphets in his church in Los Angeles.) Consequently, Soby exhibited and bequeathed the painting to the MoMA - after it had been modified by Balthus.

"[...] the Mongolian boy's hand had been moved very slightly to a less committed position on the young girl's body, though his eyes were tense with the same fever."

"The James Thrall Soby Bequest" March 22, 1979–May 9, 1979

Thus, The Street in The Street: Curated by Peter Doig is not the original The Street, but it’s only slightly less salacious. Thus, like Lubow related, the piece is : “[...] infrequently displayed by the Museum of Modern Art.” But, relatedly, it was exhibited in the 1979 exhibition "The James Thrall Soby Bequest".

Balthus' THE STREET: A Nymphet's Crotch Groped Before & After the MoMA

Balthus' The Street: Before (1933) and After (1955) the MoMA

We're reading Weber's Balthus: A Biography in preparation of the second edition of Nymphalis Carmen: Nympholepsy in Nabokov’s Oeuvre. 

We asked and answered the following question in Nymphalis Carmen:

And who was one of Nabokov's favorite painters? Based on my leading question, you may have been able to guess that it is none other than Balthasar Klossowski de Rola or simply Balthus. Nabokov shared in Strong Opinions: 

"The aspects of Picasso that I emphatically dislike are the sloppy products of his old age. I also loathe old Matisse. A contemporary artist I do admire very much, though not only because he paints Lolita-like creatures, is Balthus." (167) 

And Balthus shared, translated into English, in the documentary Balthus the Painter (1996), referring to Nabokov: “I think we feel the same thing in the presence of young girls.”

In addition, we've blogged about Balthus in the past. For example, we wrote about how, despite over 8,000 virtual signatures on an (online) petition, the Metropolitan Museum of Art refused to removed Balthus' Thérèse Dreaming (1938). But I didn't realize that The Street (1933), which I've passed several times at the MoMA, had a previous - even more salacious version. 

Here's MoMA's description of The Street:

The Street, Balthus's first large painting, was one of several that scandalized audiences when it was included in the artist's earliest solo exhibition, in Paris in 1934. Balthus rendered each of the figures in his scene of Paris's rue Bourbon-le-Chateau frozen mid-movement; none of them seem to notice the aggressive sexual struggle underway at the painting's far left [...] The Street was of great interest to Surrealist artists for its rendering of a crowded street as an uncanny site of mental isolation and for its exploration of sexual taboos.

Intriguingly, the art history major who wrote that blurb didn't mention that The Street was modified by Balthus in 1955 at the request of James Thrall Soby. 

Here's a summary of Weber's writing on the history of The Street:

Soby, whose taste in art was "bold enough to confront the formidable", purchased The Street in Paris in 1936 and promptly placed it on a wall in his Farmington, Connecticut home. Soby admitted that The Street hadn't sold in three years due to "[...] the depiction of the young man at the edge of ecstasy reaching over the hem of the girl's hiked-up skirt toward the young girl's genitals."

Soby was "delighted in the shock value" of The Street, he had "a lively sense of humor", "a deep pleasure in upsetting the bourgeoisie" and "[h]e was keyed up by - in his own words - the "young girl being seized by the crotch [...]"

However, Soby didn't anticipate that his five-year-old step-son and his playmates would "[...] titter wildly over The Street." Consequently, Soby placed the painting in a fireproof vault. 

However, in 1955, after Reverend James L. McLane, who ironically hung some of Balthus' "most provocative" paintings of nymphets in his church in Los Angeles, "bawled [him] out for three hours for being so cowardly as to hide a great painting away in a darkened vault", Soby exhibited and bequeathed the painting to the MoMA after it had been modified by Balthus. "[...] the Mongolian boy's hand had been moved very slightly to a less committed position on the young girl's body, though his eyes were tense with the same fever."

The Street has been exhibited in the MoMA at least eight times. Here are three examples:

 "Balthus." December 19, 1956–February 3, 1957

 "Selections from the Collections, Photography, Painting and Sculpture, Architecture and Design"
March 8, 1982–February/March 1983

 "The James Thrall Soby Bequest" March 22, 1979–May 9, 1979

The MET Refuses to Remove Balthus' “Thérèse Dreaming” | Art or Teen Sexualization ?

Balthus' “Thérèse Dreaming” (1938) @ The MET

I wrote in Nymphalis carmen: Nympholepsy in Nabokov’s Oeuvre that Nabokov shared in Strong Opinions: "A contemporary artist I do admire very much, though not only because he paints Lolita-like creatures, is Balthus." (167) 

And Balthus shared in Balthus the Painter (1996), in reference to Nabokov: “I think we feel the same thing in the presence of young girls.”

We've done a number of posts on this blog about the debate between art and (teen) pornography.  Coincidentally, Peter Libbey reported in the New York Times that, despite over 8,000 virtual signatures on an online petition, the Metropolitan Museum of Art (MET), is refusing to remove Balthus' “Thérèse Dreaming” (1938) where a nymphet reclines with her hands behind her head with her left foot resting on the chair, which causes her panties to be exposed below her petite jupe.

According to the petition's website: "The Met is, perhaps unintentionally, supporting voyeurism and the objectification of children." And Mia Merrill, the petition’s author, opined that the painting is: "[...] blatant objectification and sexualization of a child [...]"

However,  Ken Weine, the MET’s chief communications officer, responded: “[...] visual art is one of the most significant means we have for reflecting on both the past and the present and encouraging the continuing evolution of existing culture through informed discussion and respect for creative expression.” 

 

Peter Schjeldahl wrote in The New Yorker (Jan. 1, 2018): Thérèse was the daughter of a [...] a neighbor of Balthus's in Paris. At the time, she was twelve or thirteen years old, and Balthus was about thirty. He had been making paintings of her since she was around eleven [...]" 

Schjeldahl opined that the painting has an "erotic charge" and, as a side note, related that Balthus: "[...] had an affair with a teen-age daughter of Georges Bataille."

Balthus at the Scuderie del Quirinale in Rome: Art or Teen Porn?

Balthus via Scuderie del Quirinale

There is a major monographic Balthasar Klossowski de Role (Balthus) exhibition at the Scuderie del Quirinale and Villa Medici in Rome. 

The Balthus (1908–2001) exhibition will run until January 31, 2016 and was curated by Cécile Debray who is the curator of the Musée National d'Art Moderne. 

The split exhibition contains almost two hundred photographs, drawings and paintings that were culled from European and American museums and private collections. 

We profiled Balthus in a previous post, and we discussed the art versus child pornography debate as it pertains to the artist.

 

Balthus by Gabriele Malaguti via Purple Magazine

LOLITA Magazine: Nubile Nymphet Models

This is what was written on the About page of the (now defunct) Lolita magazine's website:

LOLITA magazine is a new playful photo zine about girls.

Entirely handmade as a limited edition print zine, as well as an online magazine, Jolijn Snijders (founder of I LOVE FAKE magazine) literally went back to the drawing board in search to create a fresh, original look as a D.I.Y. format playing with illustration, old school copy machines, hand written typo and lots of pretty [young] girls shot by photographers worldwide.

The print zine will be sold exclusively via the website this fall.

And as you can determine from the photographs screenshots, the description is on point. The magazine was a nympholept's dream (i.e., It's brimming with nymphets.) The photographs reminded us of Balthus, Vivienne Mok, and Richard Kern.

Here are some quotes from the magazine:

"Lolita is young, fun and bright! And makes me happy to be a girl!"

"[...] playful and innocent: two keywords a lolita girl must have in our eyes."

"Lolita means a perfect mix between playfulness and innocence; a young carefree girl who knows how to enjoy life."

Lolita magazine definitely added to the debate - is it art or [child (softcore)] pornography?

LOLITA - Romee & Sanne from Lolita Zine on Vimeo.

Vivienne Mok: "Personal" Photos of Nymphets

Vivienne Mok Photography

I wrote in The Allure of Nymphets and on this blog about photographers and painters of nymphets like Jacques Bourboulon, David Hamilton, Serge Marshennikov, Frank Herholdt, Richard Kern, and Balthus - all of whom are men. However, I was recently introduced to Vivienne Mok - 27-year-old female photographer .

Mok was born in New York and grew up between Paris and Hong Kong, but after she graduated from Manhattan's Parsons School of Design, she took a job as a designer in Paris at the Fashion House of Anne Valerie Hash and subsequently took up photography.

In an interview on the James Robinson Photography blog, Mok was asked, "[...] why the genre of photography you have chosen? Mok replied, "I don’t know if I have chosen this style of photography, it happened quite naturally, I think that it’s something I have in me because it is very personal." 

And in an interview on Les Filles, Mok shared, "I would describe my work as feminine, dreamy, personal." Thus, Mok described her photographs of nude and semi-nude nymphets as "personal", which could mean that the true meaning behind her photographs is private. 

Photographer Vivienne Mok

Balthus @ the Gagosian & the MET: Art or Teen Pornography?

I went to the Gagosian's new ground floor-gallery on 76th and Madison avenue this past Friday to see the Balthus: The Last Studies exhibit. The exhibition displayed a series of little-known Polaroids that Balthus took of Anna Whali, who was the youngest daughter of Balthus' physician. Balthus started photographing Anna when she was eight-years-old.

Anna was topless in most of the Polaroids, and the exhibit reminds me of the subjective nature of the United States child pornography laws. For example, Balthus and David Hamilton are considered artists, but photographer Donald Raymond Croft II was charged with child pornography in 2012 for his photographs of nude nymphets.  

From Vanity Fair (October 2013)

BALTHUS Untitled, c. 1999–2000 at the Gagosian

On Saturday I went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art (MET) to see Balthus Cats and Girls—Paintings and Provocations and once again the lines were blurred between art and nymphet pornography. For example, Balthus' pre-teen neighbor, Thérèse Blanchard, is posing provocatively in a number of the paintings in the exhibit. 

BALTHUS Girl and Cat (1937) at the MET

However, there is at least one Balthus that even the Gagosian or the MET won't touch and that is Balthus' Guitar Lesson. According to New York magazine, the Guitar Lesson debuted in Paris in 1934 in an backroom exhibit that lasted for fifteen days. Then in 1977, the painting was exhibited for a month in Pierre Matisse’s mid-town Manhattan art gallery. From 1977 to 1982, it sat in the storage area of the Museum of Modern Art. And after being exchanged between buyers over the years, it landed in the possession of multi-billionaire Stavros Niarchos. 

Guitar Lesson (1934)

Update 03/23/14: The Museum Folkwang in Essen, Germany has cancelled the “Balthus: the Last Pictures” exhibit that was scheduled to open next month. More details can be found here.

Balthus' Polaroids via Purple Magazine

Update 3/20/16: Purple magazine published "Balthus Polariods" in the S/S 2016 issue 25. From Benoit Peverelli's presentation we learned that a few years after Balthus' death, thousands of documents were discovered in his Rossinière, Switzerland based studio at the Grand Chalet. Balthus found it difficult to draw due to his age which is why he switched to using a Polaroid camera to capture his nymphets. The Polaroids were used for Balthus' last six paintings - three of which were never finished. 

Balthus the Painter (1908-2001) [Documentary]:
Anna Whali Visits Balthus