In his 1989 book on Balthusthe storied and controversial artist who worked in Paris throughout the twentieth centuryGuy Davenport gives one of the most nuanced, literary, and compelling readings of the work of this master. Reading it today highlights the change in perspectives on sexuality and nudity in art in the past thirty years.

Written over several years in his notebooks, Davenports distinct reflections on Balthuss paintings try to explain why his work is so radical, and why it has so often come under scrutiny for its depiction of girls and women. Davenport throws the lens back on the viewer and asks: is it us or Balthus who reads sexuality into these paintings? For Davenport, the answer is clear: Balthus may indeed show us periods in adolescent development that are uncomfortable to view, but the eroticization exists primarily on the part of the viewer.

Arguing that Balthuss figures are erotic only if we make them so, and that their innocence is more present than anything pornographic in them, Davenport posits that the paintings hold up a mirror to our own perversities and force us, difficultly, to confront them. He writes, The nearer an artist works to the erotic politics of his own culture, the more he gets its concerned attention. Gauguins naked Polynesian girls, brown and remote, escape the scandal of Balthuss, although a Martian observer would not see the distinction. Davenports critique helps us understand Balthus in our timessomething we need more than ever as we crucially confront sexual politics in visual art.