The Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, Russia, the world’s largest art museum, is famous for its massive collection of three million works including some of the greatest art treasures in history, now including sculptures by Tim Holmes.
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.
They were exhibited in the gorgeous entrance hall to Katherine the Great’s famous theater, spanning a canal.
Tim Holmes was the fist American artist invited to exhibit in TGhe 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.
The Hermitage was begun in the 1700s, with 350 rooms spread throughout five 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.
“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 a letter from the museum did I believe it was true!
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 canal-spanning entryway to the court of Catherine the Great in 1993 and held over into 1994 to allow Vice President and Mrs. Gore to have a private tour.
The exhibit expresses the fine edge between the sublime and the unfathomable, between beauty and terror, between what is precious and what is too big to comprehend.
“Sculptures by Tim Holmes deserve being displayed in the best museums of the world.” -Hermitage Director, Mikhail Piotrovsky.