Focusing on the early decades of Balthus’s career, this catalogue accompanied the 2014 exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Balthus’s fascination with cats is clear from the 40 pen-and-ink drawings he produced aged eleven, and they feature frequently in his often provocative paintings of young girls on the brink of adolescence. With a detailed introduction and comprehensive notes on each painting, Sabine Rewald provides a unique perspective on this eccentric self-taught artist.