67. PIERRE KLOSSOWSKI (1905-2001) Lesbos 1957 signed and dated 1957 graphite on paper signed and dated 1957 graphite on paper 27 x 40 cm. 10 5/8 x 15 3/4 in. This work is listed in the artist's online Catalogue Raisonné, drawn up by Mr Jean-Charles Tison, Pierre-Klossowski.fr. Provenance Collection of the artist, France Then by descent to the current owner Exhibitions Geneva, Musée d'art et d'histoire, Pierre Klossowski - Anima, 20 October 1995 - 28 January 1996 Ixelles, Musée communal d'Ixelles, Pierre Klossowski, 8 February - 28 April 1996 Paris, Galerie Rachlin-Lemarié Beaubourg, Pierre Klossowski, 15 November - 31 December 1997 Paris, Galerie Marion Meyer, Hommage à Sade, 9 June - 31 July 2006 Madrid, Circulo de Bellas Artes, Pierre Klossowski "Intégral", 15 October 2007 - 13 January 2008 Desire, the simulacrum and the sacred weave a haunting presence in the protean work of Pierre Klossowski, who made a radical change in 1953 when his publisher asked him to illustrate his own novel Roberte ce soir, thus moving the artist from the written word to the gesture, as the writer became a painter. This seminal work (Klossowski would say that it enabled him to exist) contributed to the emergence of wordless texts, in which each image carries a narrative charge of great erotic tension shrouded in mystery. By moving from the speculative to the specular, L'Œuvre offered the reader the chance to become a contemplator. His first private exhibition was held in 1956 on the Cours de Rohan, under the aegis of Masson and Giacometti; the public discovered his drawings, whose cenesthetic impact was unprecedented at a time when abstract art reigned supreme. Klossowskian imagery, made up of digressions and enigmas, carries with it the influence of the Sadian and Nietzschean studies he carried out (Michel Foucault, referring to his essay Nietzsche et le cercle vicieux, published in 1969, praised it as the greatest philosophical book he had ever read), as well as the shadow of the tutelary genius André Gide, from whom his literary and pictorial work would be deeply rooted. The artist's pictorial odyssey is divided into three distinct acts, whose scenography offers, from the outset, a power of evocation mixed with formal and subversive audacity. His initial works, produced ipso facto between 1953 and 1970, were executed in graphite on a traditional paper format (the largest measuring 100 x 70 cm). This was followed by drawings, executed at the dawn of the 1970s, which were enhanced with coloured pencils; an inaugural prelude to what the artist called the Grandes Machines, which were to see the light of day from 1972 onwards. Although Arturo Schwarz (in 1970) and André-François Petit (in 1971) gave him solo exhibitions, it was at his major exhibition at the Kunsthalle Bern in 1981, and at Documenta VII in Kassel the following year, that the general public discovered his work. In erotic and sado-philosophical fictions, Klossowski stages his fantasies, and paper greedily welcomes this sexually unbridled catharsis. The artist, whose links were closely intertwined with various political and philosophical circles, worked on the clandestine review Acéphale, which was echoed in Bataille's L'Apprenti sorcier (The Sorcerer's Apprentice). These pages contain techniques of illumination, sought-after states of altered consciousness to explore the abysses of feelings, such as violence. Pierre Klossowski's drawings reveal the mysteries of a mind captive to its inner shadows, exploring the profound themes of desire, power and transgression, and questioning the notions of consent and freedom. In an unreal aesthetic, where the filmy derealisation of the bodies captures our gaze, the artist, by sketching her characters with troubled histories, deals with ethics, existentialism and transcendence. The lacunar, anthropometric space of the narratives - the characters are depicted in life size - projects us into the scene, like an involuntary witness. In this universe, the viewer becomes a lost victim, forced to grapple with the temptations that stir in the recesses of his soul. This collection of works, of exceptional quality, highlights the artist's talent as a dramatist, who conjures up surprise in his works - the true climax of his oeuvre - by interweaving it with a dizzying incomprehension, linked to the unwavering confusion we feel in front of each drawing. The character of Roberte, the absolute myth of his work, of his art, is the hypnotic and deliciously aporetic sanctuary. Desire, simulacra and the sacred weave a haunting presence in the protean Oeuvre of Pierre Klossowski, who made a radical change in 1953 when his publisher asked him to illustrate his own novel Roberte ce soir, thus the artist shifted from word to gesture, from writer to painter. This seminal work (the book, Klossowski said, had enabled him to exist) contributed to the emergence of wordless texts, in which each image carries a narrative charge of great erotic tension shrouded in mystery. His work, by moving from the speculative to the specular, invited the reader to become a spectator. His first private exhibition was held in 1956 on the Cours de Rohan, under the aegis of Masson and Giacometti; the public discovered his drawings, whose cenesthesis impact was unprecedented at a time when abstract art reigned unchallenged. Klossowski's imagery, made up of digressions and enigmas, bears the marks of Sade and Nietzsche whom he had studied (Michel Foucault, referring to his essay Nietzsche et le cercle vicieux, published in 1969, praised it as the greatest philosophical book he had ever read), as well as the tutelary genius André Gide, whose influence is firmly anchored in Klossowski's literary and pictorial work. His visual art odyssey is divided into three distinct acts whose scenography offers, from the outset, a power of evocation made up of both formal and subversive audacity. His initial works, produced ipso facto between 1953 and 1970, were executed in graphite on a traditional paper format (the largest measuring 100 x 70 cm). This was followed by drawings, executed at the dawn of the 1970s, which were enhanced with coloured pencils; an inaugural prelude to what the artist called the Grandes Machines, which were to see the light from 1972 onwards. Although Arturo Schwarz (in 1970) and André-François Petit (in 1971) gave him solo exhibitions, it was thanks to his major exhibition at the Kunsthalle Bern in 1981, and at Documenta VII in Kassel the following year that his work was brought to the attention of the general public. In erotic and sado-philosophical fictions, Klossowski stages his fantasies, the paper greedily welcoming this sexually unbridled catharsis. The artist, whose acquaintances were closely intertwined with various political and philosophical circles, worked on the clandestine journal Acéphale, which was echoed in Bataille's book The Sorcerer's Apprentice. These pages contain techniques of illumination, methods to achieve states of altered consciousness and explore the abysses of feelings such as violence. Pierre Klossowski's drawings reveal the mysteries of a mind subdued by its inner darkness, exploring the abysmal themes of desire, power and transgression, and questioning the notions of consent and freedom. With implausible aesthetics, in which the pellicular derealisation of the bodies catches our eye, the artist, by sketching his characters' troubled histories, embroiders ethics, existentialism and transcendence. The lacunar, anthropometric space of the narratives-the depicted characters are life size-projects us into the scene, as involuntary witnesses. In this universe, the spectator becomes a bewildered victim, forced to grapple with the temptations that stir in the recesses of their soul. This collection of works, of exceptional quality, highlights the artist's talent as a dramatist; his works conjure up awe, the true acme of his work, intertwining a vertiginous incomprehension, with the indefectible disruption experienced in front of each drawing. The absolute myth of his Oeuvre, the figure of Roberte, is the hypnotic and deliciously aporetic sanctuary for his art.