Word: klossowskis
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...past 30 years, Count Balthasar Klossowski de Rola, a French aristocrat of Polish extraction better known by his painting name of Balthus, has been one of the least available major artists in the world. The fame of a star painter, Marcel Duchamp once shrewdly observed, depends on an inflation of small anecdotes. About Balthus, none are in circulation. At 69 he has no public face. When André Malraux made him director of the French Academy in Rome-a post Balthus held for 16 years until his retirement a few months ago-Balthus kept fastidiously to himself even...
Distinguished Descent. Balthus was born Balthasar Klossowski de Rola in Paris on Feb. 29, 1908. Klossowski is a name that goes back for centuries in the Polish nobility, but he is also descended from the Gordons of Scotland, the most notable of whom was Lord Byron. His father was a noted critic whose house was always full of artists, writers, musicians, poets, psychologists and philosophers. For young Balthasar, the talk in the salon was an education in itself...