Book Synopsis
Where lives the inception of creative genius? Honoré de Balzac explored one path to it in his 1845 short story "The Unknown Masterpiece" in which an old, honored artist, peering through a young woman like a window, struggles to find that mysterious creative angel behind art. The tale questions the source of genius and meaning of success in the artistic realm. When contemporary sculptor Tim Holmes discovered Balzac's story with its haunted longing and surprise ending, it seemed to perfectly match a series of drawings he'd contended with in his own parallel search as a retiring "famous" artist, hunting for the true Muse of Art that underlies human longing for the transcendent.
Tim Holmes is the first American artist ever honored with a solo exhibition in the Hermitage museum in Saint Petersburg, Russia, where his sculptures remain on permanent exhibition. He works primarily in bronze, drawing and paintings of the human figure.