Balthus

(French, 1908-2001)

Mais C'était un de Leurs Grands Amusements de se Sauver dans la Lande (Study for Wuthering Heights, a double-sided work), 1933

China ink on paper

10 1/4 x 7 3/4 in. (26 x 19.7cm)

Property from the Private Collection of Merle Reskin

This lot is located in Chicago.

Provenance:

B.C. Holland Gallery, Chicago, Illinois.

Exhibited:

Chicago, Illinois, Holland Gallery, Exhibition of Balthus Drawings, September 23 - October 18, 1966.

Literature:

Virginie Monnier and Jean Clair, Balthus: Catalogue Raisonné of the Complete Works, Paris, 1999, pp. 486-487, no. I 1557 (illustrated).

Lot Note:

Between 1933 and 1935, Balthus produced a series of illustrations for a rare edition of Wuthering Heights, Emily Brontë’s tempestuous 1847 novel that had enthralled him since boyhood.

The story’s spectral beauty lingered in him well into adulthood, taking shape in a suite of evocative ink drawings—one of which appears here. In this double-sided rendering, the star-crossed lovers, Heathcliff and Cathy, are portrayed as children frolicking in the wild expanse of the moors—those windswept lands that would awaken and doom their fated love.

The 14 dreamlike sketches Balthus executed offer a glimpse into the intimate terrain of the artist's inner world: obsessive, poetic, and strange. They echo the fervid emotional landscape of Brontë’s prose, while foreshadowing the central motif of desire that would come to define his life’s body of work.

Framed: 17 x 14 1/2 inches.
In overall good condition. The sheet is taped to mat window verso on upper and lower verso edges; uneven toning around image perimeter; a horizontal fold line through the center; instances handling creases scattered throughout; one brown stain in lower right corner of verso, which is only somewhat visible on the recto. Additional images available upon request.

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Raphaël Chatroux

VP, Head of Department, Impressionist & Modern Art

[email protected]267.414.1253

Raphaël Chatroux is the Head of Department for Freeman's Impressionist & Modern Art.

Chatroux joined Freeman’s in 2016 as a Fine Art department intern. Later that year, he was the Samuel M. Freeman II Fellowship recipient and was promoted to cataloguer. Since his arrival, he has developed an expertise for a wide range of American and European art. He worked closely with Chairman Alasdair Nichol on the successful sales of The Collections of Heidi Bigham Stott in 2020 and The Peltz Collection of Pennsylvania Impressionists in 2021. Chatroux is associated with recent world records obtained for artists Cecilia Beaux, Emma Fordyce McRae, and Bo Bartlett. He was also instrumental in the acquisition of a Berthe Morisot oil painting by the Musée Marmottan Monet in Paris. As a native of France, Chatroux has worked in various art centers in Paris including Hôtel Drouot, where he oversaw auctions of fine wine and good spirits and the Palace of Versailles, where he conceived and curated several bilingual audio-guide tours. Chatroux graduated from Paris-Sorbonne University with a degree in art history; he also holds a master’s degree in art law.

Impressionist and Modern Art

Mais C'était un de Leurs Grands Amusements de se Sauver dans la Lande (Study for Wuthering Heights, a double-sided work), 1933

Impressionist and Modern Art

Mais C'était un de Leurs Grands Amusements de se Sauver dans la Lande (Study for Wuthering Heights, a double-sided work), 1933

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