Thérèse Dreaming - Balthus (1938) and Maya Hawke’s Blue Hippo
Art and historical context are a hard conversation in the face-value world we live in today. I hope to create a comfortable space for discussion and learning. These posts will discuss various topics that some may find triggering or unpleasant. I will be talking about the following hard topics: Nudity, misogyny, sex, pornography, abuse, and pedophelia (though nothing graphic).
Thérèse Blanchard was a neighbor of the artist. The exact nature of their relationship is unknown, nor her exact age. Though the range is about eleven to fourteen, most sources say eleven. Balthus and Thérèse may have had a strictly artistic relationship. She may have just modeled for him, but the nature of the work depicting Thérèse is undeniably sexual. Did she know the connotations of her pose at such a tender age? A lot has been said and assumed about the young woman. It is extremely possible that she was abused, and it is definite that her body was exploited in the paintings. Maya Hawke’s music video for ‘Blue Hippo’ and the song ‘Thérèse’ shine a new light on her. They are the emancipation of a previously unheard girl in art history. The song had a life. She had interests and memories and feelings - she was a real person. There is a sense of catharsis in setting Thérèse free. Not only for women who have been sexually exploited, but also the inner child and girl at heart., in the video she makes her an artist herself. In giving Thérèse a story: she liberates.
“Thérèse does not belong to you
The horses, cars, and cowboys do,”
- Maya Hawke, Thérèse
Carolyn Gage’s The Crimes Against Thérèse Blanchard is an excellent and harsh takedown of the work, opting to not even include an image of the painting. Thérése’s parents are said to be restaurant workers. One can theorize that her parent’s accepted the form of payment for her modeling - if she was paid at all. Her Parisian neighbor Balthus painted 10 (known) works of her from 1938 to 1940. These range from innocent studies, portraits, and the famous perversions. One source says that Blanchard died at Twenty five. It makes me very emotional to think about how she never got the opportunity to tell her story.
See part 1, 2, coming soon: 3
In the next part I will show visual examples of what Maya writes in the songs. Lots of pictures and things! It might take a little while. I will also be discussing symbolism. will get darker so I apologize for that. Thank you for reading and dealing with my typing errors. Dyslexia will not stop me from talking about art! Cheers xx.
