Balthus: Cats and Girls is the first book devoted to this subject, focusing on the early decades of the artist€s career from the mid-1930s to the 1950s. Drawing on extensive knowledge of the artist€s life and work, as well as on interviews with Balthus and the models themselves, Sabine Rewald explores the origins and permutations of Balthus€s obsessions with adolescents and felines. She addresses the crucial influence of such key figures as poet Rainer Maria Rilke, his mother€s lover, who acted as Balthus€s surrogate father, but also includes the previously unknown voices of the girl models: their recollections and comments provide a unique perspective on some of the best known and most controversial paintings of the 20th century.