Setsuko Klossowska de Rola | |
|---|---|
| Born | Setsuko Ideta 1942 (age 81–82) Tokyo, Japan |
| Alma mater | Sophia University, Tokyo |
| Known for | Painting, writing |
| Spouse | Balthus (Balthasar Klossowski de Rola) |
Setsuko Klossowska de Rola (born January 1, 1942) is a Japanese painter. She has exhibited her work internationally, and is also a writer. She became UNESCO's Artist For Peace in 2005. She is the widow of the French painter, Balthus, and is honorary president of the Balthus Foundation.[1]
Biography
Setsuko was born Setsuko Ideta in Tokyo, in 1942. She graduated from Tokyo Morimura Gakuen High School in 1961 and entered the department of French language at Sophia University in Tokyo. As a university student, she met the painter Balthus who was visiting Japan for the first time in 1962. Setsuko became Balthus's second wife in 1967. Setsuko lived with Balthus at the Villa Medici, where he presided as director of the French Academy in Rome. In 1968, she gave birth to a son, Fumio, who died aged two years and six months. In 1973, a daughter, Harumi, was born.[2][3] In 1977, Setsuko and Balthus left the French Academy and moved to Le Grand Chalet in Rossinière, Switzerland. Balthus died in 2001.
Setsuko's art has been exhibited in, among other places, Rome, New York, Paris, London and Tokyo. In 2002 she was Cultural Patron of the 2002 Venice Congress.[4] She collaborates with French ceramics maker Astier de Villatte.[5]
References
- ↑ Countess Setsuko Klossowska de Rola designated Artist for Peace UNESCO. Retrieved: 2011-06-01.
- ↑ Review of Balthus: a biography New York Times, 1999.
- ↑ "Controversial artist Balthus' widow on his fixation with young girls". South China Morning Post. Retrieved 2018-10-18.
- ↑ "UNESCO - Countess Setsuko Klossowska de Rola designated Artist for Peace". portal.unesco.org. Archived from the original on 2005-03-05.
- ↑ "Inside a French Art Royal's Wild, Beastly Paris Kingdom".