Gagosian's Balthus Estate Exhibition Criticized for Manipulating Polaroids and Displaying Unfinished Work

Gagosian Gallery's exhibition 'Balthus: The Last Studies' from September 26 to December 21, 2013 at 976 Madison Avenue in New York City presents 35 photographic works and an unfinished painting representing the artist's estate. The show features Polaroid images arranged into groupings by Nicolas Pages and Benoit Peverelli, editors of a two-volume Steidl publication containing 2,000 Polaroid images. These 155 displayed Polaroids simulate contemporary serial imagery styles reminiscent of Duane Michaels or Nan Goldin, with prices ranging from $20,000 to $240,000. Balthus used Polaroid cameras in his later years when his eyesight and hand coordination deteriorated, producing studies, accidents, and independent photographic works. The exhibition has drawn criticism for betraying the artist's known reluctance to show work in progress, as Pierre Matisse once noted about Balthus's studio privacy. The unfinished canvas display and manufactured image combinations are seen as diminishing Balthus's photographic achievements and disregarding his wishes. Some Polaroids show genuine artistic searching for painting compositions, while others reveal accidental blurring that creates poetic effects of fading consciousness. The artist himself acknowledged in Damian Pettigrew's film that in his final years he was 'not the man he once was.' Critics argue such material belongs in study collections rather than public exhibitions.