Pierre Klossowski (; ; 9 August 1905 – 12 August 2001) was a French writer, translator and artist. He was the eldest son of the artists

Erich Klossowski Erich Klossowski or Kłossowski (19 December 1875 – 23 January 1949) was a German and Polish-French art historian and a painter, now primarily known as the father of the writer-philosopher- painter and actor Pierre Klossowski and the artis ...

and

Baladine Klossowska Baladine Klossowska or Kłossowska (21 October 1886 — 11 September 1969) was a German painter. Originating from an artistic Jewish family with roots in Lithuania, she moved from Breslau, Germany (now Wrocław, Poland) to Paris, France, at the t ...

, and his younger brother was the 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 ...

Life

Born in Paris, Pierre Klossowski was the older brother of the artist Balthazar Klossowski, better known as

. Their parents were the art historian

and the painter

. His German-educated father came from a family supposedly belonging to the former Polish

petty nobility The petty nobility is the lower nobility classes. Finland Petty nobility in Finland is dated at least back to 13th century and was formed by nobles around their strategic interests. The idea was more capable peasants with leader roles in local c ...

(drobna

szlachta The ''szlachta'' (Polish: endonym, Lithuanian: šlėkta) were the noble estate of the realm in the Kingdom of Poland, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth who, as a class, had the dominating position in ...

) and bearing the Rola coat of arms. His mother, Baladine Klossowska, was born as Elisabeth Dorothea Spiro in Breslau, Prussia (now Wrocław, Poland). When he was 18, Pierre was

André Gide André Paul Guillaume Gide (; 22 November 1869 – 19 February 1951) was a French author and winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature (in 1947). Gide's career ranged from its beginnings in the symbolist movement, to the advent of anticolonialism ...

's secretary and worked on the drafts of '' Les faux-monnayeurs'' for him. Klossowski was responsible for a new publication of ''The 120 Days of Sodom & Other Writings'' by the

Marquis de Sade Donatien Alphonse François, Marquis de Sade (; 2 June 1740 – 2 December 1814), was a French nobleman, revolutionary politician, philosopher and writer famous for his literary depictions of a libertine sexuality as well as numerous accusati ...

in 1964.

Writing

Klossowski wrote full length volumes on the

and

Friedrich Nietzsche Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (; or ; 15 October 1844 – 25 August 1900) was a German philosopher, prose poet, cultural critic, philologist, and composer whose work has exerted a profound influence on contemporary philosophy. He began his ...

, a number of essays on literary and philosophical figures, and five novels. ''Roberte Ce Soir'' (''Roberte in the Evening'') provoked controversy due to its graphic depiction of sexuality. He translated several important texts (by

Virgil Publius Vergilius Maro (; traditional dates 15 October 7021 September 19 BC), usually called Virgil or Vergil ( ) in English, was an ancient Roman poet of the Augustan period. He composed three of the most famous poems in Latin literature: th ...

Ludwig Wittgenstein Ludwig Josef Johann Wittgenstein ( ; ; 26 April 1889 – 29 April 1951) was an Austrian- British philosopher who worked primarily in logic, the philosophy of mathematics, the philosophy of mind, and the philosophy of language. He is consi ...

Martin Heidegger Martin Heidegger (; ; 26 September 188926 May 1976) was a German philosopher who is best known for contributions to phenomenology, hermeneutics, and existentialism. He is among the most important and influential philosophers of the 20th centu ...

Friedrich Hölderlin Johann Christian Friedrich Hölderlin (, ; ; 20 March 1770 – 7 June 1843) was a German poet and philosopher. Described by Norbert von Hellingrath as "the most German of Germans", Hölderlin was a key figure of German Romanticism. Part ...

Franz Kafka Franz Kafka (3 July 1883 – 3 June 1924) was a German-speaking Bohemian novelist and short-story writer, widely regarded as one of the major figures of 20th-century literature. His work fuses elements of realism and the fantastic. It typ ...

Nietzsche Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (; or ; 15 October 1844 – 25 August 1900) was a German philosopher, prose poet, cultural critic, philologist, and composer whose work has exerted a profound influence on contemporary philosophy. He began his car ...

, and

Walter Benjamin Walter Bendix Schönflies Benjamin (; ; 15 July 1892 – 26 September 1940) was a German Jewish philosopher, cultural critic and essayist. An eclectic thinker, combining elements of German idealism, Romanticism, Western Marxism, and Jewish ...

) into French, worked on films and was also an artist, illustrating many of the scenes from his novels. Klossowski participated in most issues of George Bataille's review, ''

Acéphale ''Acéphale'' is the name of a public review created by Georges Bataille (which numbered five issues, from 1936 to 1939) and a secret society formed by Bataille and others who had sworn to keep silent. Its name is derived from the Greek ἀκέ� ...

'', in the late 1930s. His 1969 book, ''Nietzsche and the Vicious Circle'', greatly influenced French philosophers such as

Michel Foucault Paul-Michel Foucault (, ; ; 15 October 192625 June 1984) was a French philosopher, historian of ideas, writer, political activist, and literary critic. Foucault's theories primarily address the relationship between power and knowledge, and ho ...

Gilles Deleuze Gilles Louis René Deleuze ( , ; 18 January 1925 – 4 November 1995) was a French philosopher who, from the early 1950s until his death in 1995, wrote on philosophy, literature, film, and fine art. His most popular works were the two volu ...

, and

Jean-François Lyotard Jean-François Lyotard (; ; ; 10 August 1924 – 21 April 1998) was a French philosopher, sociologist, and literary theorist. His interdisciplinary discourse spans such topics as epistemology and communication, the human body, modern art and ...

Film

Klossowski also appeared in

Robert Bresson Robert Bresson (; 25 September 1901 – 18 December 1999) was a French film director. Known for his ascetic approach, Bresson contributed notably to the art of cinema; his non-professional actors, ellipses, and sparse use of scoring have l ...

's ''

Au hasard Balthazar ''Au Hasard Balthazar'' (; meaning "Balthazar, at Random"), also known as ''Balthazar'', is a 1966 French drama film directed by Robert Bresson. Believed to be inspired by a passage from Fyodor Dostoyevsky's 1868–69 novel ''The Idiot'', the film ...

'' as the avaricious miller who desires Marie, a character played by

Anne Wiazemsky Anne Wiazemsky (14 May 1947 – 5 October 2017) was a French actress and novelist. She made her cinema debut at the age of 18, playing Marie, the lead character in Robert Bresson's ''Au Hasard Balthazar'' (1966), and went on to appear in several ...

. He was involved in: *

Raoul Ruiz __NOTOC__ Raoul is a French variant of the male given name Ralph or Rudolph, and a cognate of Raul. Raoul may also refer to: Given name * Raoul Berger, American legal scholar * Raoul Bova, Italian actor * Radulphus Brito (Raoul le Breton, died ...

's ''

La vocation suspendue ''The Suspended Vocation'' (french: La vocation suspendue) is a 1978 French drama film directed by Chilean filmmaker Raúl Ruiz. It is a free adaptation of the perverse theological 1950 novel of the same name by Pierre Klossowski.Goddard, Mich ...

'', 1977, 90'; *

's ''

L'hypothèse du tableau volé ''The Hypothesis of the Stolen Painting'' (french: L'Hypothèse du tableau volé) is a 1978 French experimental mystery film directed by Chilean filmmaker Raúl Ruiz and shot by cinematographer Sacha Vierny. The film was inspired by the themes ...

'', 1979, 66'; * Pierre Zucca's ''Roberte'', 1979, 100'; * Alain Fleischer's ''Pierre Klossowski ou l'éternel détour'', 1996, 106'. His text on de Sade is mentioned in the bibliography at the beginning of

Pier Paolo Pasolini Pier Paolo Pasolini (; 5 March 1922 – 2 November 1975) was an Italian poet, filmmaker, writer and intellectual who also distinguished himself as a journalist, novelist, translator, playwright, visual artist and actor. He is considered one of ...

's ''

Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom ''Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom'' ( it, Salò o le 120 giornate di Sodoma, billed on-screen ''Pasolini's 120 Days of Sodom'' on English-language prints and commonly referred to as simply ''Salò'' []) is a 1975 horror film, horror art film dir ...

'', and quoted several times through the film.

Drawing

From 20 September to 19 October 2006, there was a display of Klossowski's drawings and life size sculptures made after them with sculptor Jean-Paul Réti along with the art of

Hans Bellmer Hans Bellmer (13 March 1902 – 24 February 1975) was a German artist, best known for the life-sized pubescent female dolls he produced in the mid-1930s. Historians of art and photography also consider him a Surrealist photographer. Biography ...

at the

Whitechapel Art Gallery The Whitechapel Gallery is a public art gallery in Whitechapel on the north side of Whitechapel High Street, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. The original building, designed by Charles Harrison Townsend, opened in 1901 as one of the ...

also presented at the Ludwig Museum in Cologne and the

Musée National d'Art Moderne The Musée National d'Art Moderne (; "National Museum of Modern Art") is the national museum for modern art of France. It is located in Paris and is housed in the Centre Pompidou in the 4th arrondissement of the city. In 2021 it ranked 10th in t ...

in Paris with a film retrospective.

Bibliography

Translations

*Friedrich Sieburg, ''Défense du nationalisme allemand'', Grasset (1933) *Friedrich Sieburg, ''Robespierre'', E. Flammarion (1936) *Ludwig Wittgenstein, ''Tractatus logico-philosophicus suivi de Investigations philosophiques'' (1961) *Martin Heidegger, ''Nietzsche'' (1971) *Friedrich Nietzsche, ''Le Gai Savoir'' *Walter Benjamin, ''L'œuvre d'art à l'époque de sa reproduction mécanisée'' n consultation with the author for the first publication of the essay in 1936*J. G. Hamann, ''Les Méditations Bibliques'', Minuit (1948). Critical edition, Éditions Ionas, 2016
read online

References

External links

Klossowski obituary
from ''The Independent'', 14 August 2001, by Ian James
Klossowski obituary
from ''Art Forum'', November 2001, by Benjamin Ivry
Reading Pierre Klossowski
from ''Context'', by John Taylor

by Brett Bowles

by Elena Filipovic, focussing on his drawing
Pierre Klossowski page on the-artists.org

{{DEFAULTSORT:Klossowski, Pierre 1905 births 2001 deaths Artists from Paris French Roman Catholics French people of Polish-Jewish descent French biographers 20th-century French novelists French erotica writers Translators of Franz Kafka French literary critics 20th-century biographers 20th-century French translators French male essayists French male novelists Nietzsche scholars 20th-century French essayists Translators of Virgil Translators of Martin Heidegger Translators of Friedrich Nietzsche Male biographers

Life

Writing

Film

Drawing

Bibliography

Translations

See also

References

Further reading

External links