Mitsou. Quarante Images.

RILKE, Rainer Maria (pref.); BALTHUS.

Published by Erlenbach: Rotapfel-Verlag, 1921

First edition, first printing, of Balthus's rare first published work. He drew this pictorial series on the love and loss of his cat when he was just 11. He gifted them to Rilke, who was the lover of his mother, the artist Baladine Klossowska. The poet was so taken with the drawings that he used his literary weight to arrange for their publication. "Rilke knew he had to write this Préface à Mitsou in order to turn the boy's efforts into an enterprise that could be taken seriously by adults, but the short prose essay also represented a turning point in his own career", allowing him "his first liberating experience in writing with some precision and elegance in the language he had chosen to adopt" (Freedman, p. 370). Rilke's Letters to a Young Painter comprise his correspondence with teenage Balthus, for whom he was an important father-figure. Balthus would go on to become one of the leading artists of his generation, celebrated for his unsettling images of cats and young girls. Mitsou, the much-loved cat of his youth, was the first of his models, and he signed all subsequent works with his childhood nickname "Baltuz". "Cats remained a force and presence in the artist's work and life beyond his Mitsou drawings. In 1935, when Balthus was 27 years old, he painted his self-portrait The King of Cats. In it, he stands with his right hand on his hip, his left hand gripping his lapel, as a tiger cat rubs its head against his right knee. Later in his career, in the large decorative panel The Cat of La Méditerranée, the artist includes a self-portrait of himself as a happy cat on whose plate a rainbow of fish lands" (Met Museum online). Ralph Freedman, Life of a Poet: Rainer Maria Rilke, 1996. Octavo. With 40 illustrations by Balthus. Original cream paper wrappers over limp boards, front cover lettered in black, edges untrimmed. Short closed tears to joints, foot of spine a little worn, a few slight creases to toned wrappers and first few leaves, trivial splash marks on front cover fresh and firm; a near-fine copy. Seller Inventory # 165834

Bibliographic Details

Title: Mitsou. Quarante Images.
Publisher: Erlenbach: Rotapfel-Verlag, 1921
Edition: 1st Edition