David H.W. Grubb
Jeune fille à la fenètre
Balthus 1935
The angle at which the figure of the girl leans out of the
window,
the chair askew with her left leg hitched onto it,
the density of the new, our closeness
as we stand Just behind the girl
and at any moment she will (she will) turn round and speak to us.
This drawing in is the essence of the image. At one level, a girl
leans out
to see a better view;
but it is our accompanying her
that fulfils the image and its meaning.
She is quite stocky. She is probably about thirteen.
The image is one of grey and yellow and green.
One feels it is afternoon. One imagines
that the large windows are drawn right back
because of the closeness of the afternoon.
Perhaps it is also because the girl is barefooted
and yet not dressed in light summer clothes
one imagines that she is longing for something to happen,
to give event to a rather ordinary day.
The need for surprise, for somebody to arrive.
Hope creating expectation.
She does not go outside. She waits for the surprise to come to
her.
Because we cannot see her face at all
we are left with question upon question,
less about her as to our own presence here.
In what way are we part of her story,
her fiction, the event, this occasion?
Page(s) 17
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