La Fondation Beyeler consacre une rétrospective majeure au célèbre peintre français d'origine polonaise. Son chef-d'oeuvre monumental, Passage du Commerce-Saint-André, en prêt de longue durée à la Fondation Beyeler, est le point de départ de cette exposition. Cette peinture énigmatique réunit les préoccupations intenses de Balthus pour les dimensions spatiales et temporelles de l'image et leur relation à la figure et à l'objet. Suivant le fil rouge de ces considérations, ce catalogue réunit une cinquantaine de peintures majeures issues de toutes ses périodes. Dans cette perspective sont mises en lumière les stratégies parfois provocatrices de la mise en scène picturale de Balthus mais aussi l'ironie de son art.
How is art criticism to be understood within an expanding artistic field? A look at its history and its manifestations within globalized conditions shows the variety of the genre, of the criteria and of the styles of writing. This reader is an attempt to bring a diverse range of art-critical voices and perspectives into conversation with each other, with texts from the 18th century to the present. The editors Beate Soentgen and Julia Voss have invited colleagues from various geographical and intellectual backgrounds to present and discuss the art critics of their choice, choosing one example from their respective bodies of work to comment upon. How have these writers approached art criticism? Which styles do they employ? What makes them extraordinary? What can we learn from their writings today, and why is it important in its contemporary context?
Texts by: Ananda Kentish Coomaraswamy, Denis Diderot, Takashi Kashima, Patrick Mudekereza, Annemarie Sauzeau-Boetti, Bertha Zuckerkandl and many more Comments by: Juli Carson, Yuriko Furuhata, Isabelle Graw, Angela Harutyunyan, Monica Juneja, Wolfgang Kemp, Florencia Malbran, Yvette Mutumba, Azu Nwagbogu, Sarah Wilson and many more.
