"La peinture de Balthus est d'une actualité suffisante pour se passer de l'actualité"

Autograph letter dated and signed by Antonin Artaud on Le Dôme brasserie letterhead, addressed to Maurice Martin du Gard, founder and director of Nouvelles Littéraires. 29 lines in blue ink in a nervous handwriting.
Traces of folds and small marginal tears inherent to postal dispatch and handling. Minor stains at the beginning of the letter.

Antonin Artaud fought to have his article on Balthus's painting, exhibited for the first time in France, published. He fiercely defended the artist he considered his 'double', so similar were they physically and intellectually.

During Balthus's first gallery exhibition in 1934, his depictions of pubescent young women, veering towards voyeuristic dreamscapes, scandalised the Parisian public. Artaud recognised himself in the strange atmosphere of Balthus's paintings and was among the first writers to acknowledge the importance of his work. The two men had met by chance at the Café de Flore two years earlier. "A strange bond united them, Balthus believed, especially as he owed it to him to be still alive. In July 34, the poet narrowly saved the painter, who was suffering from intense depression, from suicide. 'Curiously, he rushed into my studio that day, just as I was at my worst. He immediately understood, perhaps because he himself had taken many drugs in his life.' (Zoé Balthus, quoting Balthus)". A few months before this crisis, Artaud sought to reclaim the manuscript he had written for his friend's first solo exhibition at La Galerie Pierre, which opened on April 13, 1934, at 6 Rue des Beaux-Arts, Paris. The author of Héliogabale ou l'anarchiste couronné (published the same year) was surprised and a little annoyed at the lack of interest shown by the magazine: « Je vous ai adressé il y a quinze jours un article sur l'exposition Balthus dont tout le monde parle. Il me semblait que les Nouvelles littéraires se devaient d'en parler. »  ["A fortnight ago I sent you an article on the Balthus exhibition that everyone is talking about. It seemed to me that Les Nouvelles Littéraires was obliged to address it."] His poetic and enigmatic prose repeatedly extolled the virtues of Balthus, his alter ego who also rejected the dogmas of Surrealism. The editors of Nouvelles Littéraires even seemed to neglect Balthus's work, which irritated him to no end: « Bien que les manuscrits non insérés ne soient pas rendus, on me rend toujours mes manuscrits, et en général après les avoir publiés. » ["Although unpublished manuscripts are not usually returned, mine are always sent back to me, and usually after they have been published."] He insisted on retrieving his manuscript and railed against the silence of the magazine regarding the work of the great painter: « Je vous serai donc reconnaissant de me dire ce que vous comptez en faire car la peinture de Balthus est d'une actualité suffisante pour se passer de l'actualité. Un article sur lui peut donc paraître en tout temps. Si vous pensiez ne pas devoir le publier je vous demande de vouloir bien me le renvoyer... » ["I would be grateful if you could tell me what you intend to do with it, because Balthus's painting is topical enough not to need to be in the news. An article about him can therefore be published at any time. If you think you should not publish it, please send it back to me..."] This article is likely the one Artaud eventually published in the Mexican newspaper El Nacional two years later, once again celebrating his friend's painting.

A handwritten letter from the fiery and irascible Antonin Artaud, defender and champion of Balthus's art.