Hilde STIELER & Erich KLOSSOWSKI

Erich Klossowski (1875-1949)
Hilde Stieler (1879-1965)

Nicknamed “Monsieur KLO” by the people of Sanary, painter and theater designer Erich Klossowski was born in East Prussia into a family of Polish nobility. He settled in Sanary in 1932 with his partner Hilde Stieler, a German writer and painter. A Francophile, the father of painter Balthus and novelist Pierre Klossowski obtained French nationality in 1939. After the occupation of the “free zone”, Klossowski and Stieler remained as the only exiles in Sanary, but had to leave for the hinterland when the town center was evacuated in 1944. They returned in the aftermath of the war, where they remained until their deaths.

Erich Klossowski left Germany at the age of 20 to settle as a painter and art writer in Paris, where, along with art historian Julius Meier-Graefe, he frequented the Allemands du Dôme. In 1903, he married the sister of painter Eugène Spiro, Dorothea, a pupil of Pierre Bonnard, who signed her works after their marriage under the name Baladine Klossowska. The couple had two sons, Pierre born in 1905, who became a writer and draughtsman, and Balthazar in 1908. The latter was to become the famous painter Balthus, controversial for his erotic paintings of very young girls. His father said of him: “Balthus is my revenge on life. On the eve of the Great War, the family, of German nationality, had to leave France and settled in Berlin after a stay in Zurich, where Klossowski published the expressionist magazine Die weißen Blätter with René Schickele. In 1917, the couple separated and Baladine became the Muse of Austrian poet Rainer Maria Rilke, who nicknamed her his “Merline”.

After the First World War, Klossowski worked in Munich as a stage designer, where he met Hilde Stieler, who became his partner. In the mid-1920s, he returned with her to Paris. Then, on the advice of Julius Meier-Graefe and René Schickele, they moved to Provence, first to Bormes-les-Mimosas, then in 1929 to La Garde and finally to Sanary-sur-Mer, where they rented the Villa l’Enclos from 1933 to 1944.

In contrast to the two previous locations, in Sanary they lead a fulfilling social life. Klossowski regularly met René Schickele, Meier-Graefe and Heinrich Mann in the harbor cafés to discuss the worrying situation in Germany. They also socialize with the Huxleys and their English-speaking clan, the Feuchtwangers and the Mann family, among others. Hilde is often visited by Eva Herrmann when she comes down from her bastide to do her shopping at the Sanary market. To her dismay, however, she finds that Erich is madly in love with Eva, although she is only interested in his son Balthus. In 1938, their social life receives a new boost with the arrival of Alma and Franz Werfel, the latter a former admirer of Hilde. But the threat of war loomed over the future and their already difficult financial situation became more complicated. Hilde lost contracts with publishers and newspapers in Germany, and Klossowski stopped selling his paintings. They have to improve their daily lives by giving German and English lessons. They also had to contend with the animosity of the Sanary population towards German speakers. In May 1940, Hilde was sent to the Hyères internment camp. She avoided being transferred to Gurs due to her frail health. Thanks to her connections with French writers and publishers, she was released and was able to return to Sanary to Klossowski, who had been a naturalized French citizen since 1939.

After the war, Hilde continued her activities, notably in Sanary where, in 1949, she took part in the exhibition organized by the Association des Amis des Beaux-Arts de Sanary alongside other prestigious artists: Hogg, Kisling and Sassy.

On April 6, 1943, the Sanary town hall prepared an evacuation plan, and Klossowski, like other elderly French citizens, was taken to Saint Maximin in a convoy. With the help of an acquaintance, Hilde found refuge on a farm in Le Beausset, waiting for the coastal bombardments to cease. Upon returning, she married Robert de Wilt, a former Dutch Carthusian monk, to obtain Dutch citizenship. The couple settled in the villa Domicile adoré on Rue Barthélémy Dedon, where a frail Klossowski joined them. The marriage didn’t last long, and after Robert’s departure, Hilde lovingly cared for Klossowski until his death in early February 1949. Hilde remained in Sanary, earning a living by writing articles for magazines and teaching languages. She had personal connections with Colette and Marguerite Yourcenar. In 1963, her French writings were honored by the magazine République-Le Provençal. Hilde Stieler grew increasingly isolated and died on February 19, 1965, in the hospital of La Seyne-sur-Mer.