The Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, Russia, the world’s largest art museum, is famous for its massive collection of three million artworks, including some of the greatest art treasures in history, now including sculptures by Tim Holmes.
Tim Holmes was the first American artist invited to exhibit in The Hermitage, in 1993-4. Holmes was not a big name in the American art world, but the curators of the Hermitage were so impressed with the depth and passion of his work that he was chosen to mark the opening of The Hermitage to art of the West. The exhibit proved to be very popular among Russians and the Russian media.
An Emergency of Joy, was the first exhibit of an American artist at the Hermitage. It included 30 Holmes sculptures and four Metaphysical Maps, including some pieces specifically created.
This is an 18th century engraving of this part of the Hermitage with my exhibit hall on the right. It looks the same today. Only the costumes have changed.
An Emergency of Joy was installed in the gorgeous canal-spanning entryway to the court of Catherine the Great in 1993 and held over into 1994 to allow Vice President and Mrs. Gore a private tour.
The Hermitage was begun in the 1700s, with 350 rooms spread throughout six former palaces, housing the world’s greatest art collection, the place itself is a cultural mecca. Three of Tim’s sculptures remain on display at the Hermitage where he shares the honor with Rockwell Kent of being the only Americans represented among the works in the permanent collection.
The exhibit expresses the fine edge between the sublime and the unfathomable; beauty and terror; what is precious and what’s too big to comprehend.
The peoples of two nations grapple with the meaning of their collective angst during the cold war conflict, focused on the art of Tim Holmes.
“Sculptures by Tim Holmes deserve being displayed in the best museums of the world.” -Hermitage Director, Mikhail Piotrovsky.
“It took me months of disbelief that my invitation was real and not a scam. Only when an American musician returning from a Russian tour delivered an official letter from the museum did I believe it was true! -Tim
