Setsuko Klossowska de Rola (born January 1 1942) is a Japanese painter. She has exhibited her work internationally, and is also a writer. She became

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...

's Artist For Peace in 2005. She is the widow of the French painter,

Balthus Balthasar Klossowski de Rola (February 29, 1908 – February 18, 2001), known as Balthus, was a Polish-French modern artist. He is known for his erotically charged images of pubescent girls, but also for the refined, dreamlike quality of his image ...

, and is honorary president of the Balthus Foundation.Countess Setsuko Klossowska de Rola designated Artist for Peace
UNESCO. Retrieved: 2011-06-01.

Biography

Setsuko was born Setsuko Ideta in

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

, in 1942. She graduated from Tokyo Morimura Gakuen High School in 1961 and entered the department of French language at

Sophia University Sophia University (Japanese: 上智大学, ''Jōchi Daigaku''; Latin: ''Universitas Sedis Sapientiae'') is a private research university in Japan. Sophia is one of the three ''Sōkeijōchi'' (早慶上智) private universities, a group of the to ...

in Tokyo. As a university student, she met the painter

who was visiting Japan for the first time in 1962. Setsuko became Balthus's second wife in 1967. Setsuko lived with Balthus at the

Villa Medici The Villa Medici () is a Mannerist villa and an architectural complex with a garden contiguous with the larger Borghese gardens, on the Pincian Hill next to Trinità dei Monti in Rome, Italy. The Villa Medici, founded by Ferdinando I de' Medici, ...

, where he presided as director of the

French Academy in Rome The French Academy in Rome (french: Académie de France à Rome) is an Academy located in the Villa Medici, within the Villa Borghese, on the Pincio (Pincian Hill) in Rome, Italy. History The Academy was founded at the Palazzo Capranica in 1 ...

. In 1968, she gave birth to a son, Fumio, who died aged two years and six months. In 1973, a daughter, Harumi, was born. In 1977, Setsuko and Balthus left the French Academy and moved to Le Grand Chalet in

Rossinière Rossinière is a municipality in the Riviera-Pays-d'Enhaut district of the canton of Vaud in Switzerland. History Rossinière is first mentioned in 1155 as ''La Ransonery''. Geography Rossinière has an area, , of . Of this area, or 38.2% ...

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

. Balthus died in 2001. Setsuko's art has been exhibited in, among other places, Rome, New York, Paris, London and Tokyo. In 2002 she was Cultural Patron of the 2002 Venice Congress. She collaborates with French ceramics maker Astier de Villatte.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rola, Setsuko Klossowska De Living people Japanese artists 1942 births People from Tokyo Sophia University alumni Japanese expatriates in Switzerland