The Unknown Masterpiece by Honoré de Balzac

usually you transform them, like the Christians transformed old temples or the Pantheon into Christian churches. To explain the layering in his own architecturally inspired works of the 1980s, the artist has stated his deep interest in the reuse and recycling of architecture: 'You know, normally you don't destroy buildings. Meant as a monument and ceremonial hall to celebrate the victories of the German army, now its endless, imaginary columns are imbued with the horrors of the Holocaust. Albert Speer commissioned the architect Wilhelm Kreis to design its barrel-vaulted interior on a huge and unprecedented scale. As if to link the madness of Frenhofer-whose story has also been read as an allegory of modern art-with the architectural fantasies of Nazi Germany, Kiefer bases the watercolor backdrop on a rendering of the projected Soldier's Hall for Berlin that was first sketched by Adolf Hitler in 1936. They deem it the work of a genius gone mad. Frenhofer labors in secret, painting layer upon layer, year after year, but when his followers finally view the picture, they discover that it is nothing but an unrecognizable and endlessly layered abstraction.

Available at our E-shop with 35 % discount for 194 CZK.Į-book available for 148 CZK via this LINK.Kiefer inscribed the title of this work in French at the bottom center-Le chef d'oeuvre inconnu-a title shared by Honoré de Balzac's story from 1831 in which an aging Baroque painter named Frenhofer works for many years to perfect a portrait that consumes him completely. The novella Gambara is presented to the Czech reader for the first time. By contrast, Pierre Grassou is an amusing caricature of a mediocre painter who gains success by virtue of pleasing to the social taste.įinally, the novella At the Sign of the Cat and Racket confronts two different worlds with a love story between a bohemian painter and a simple bourgeois girl.Īll the stories are published in new original translations. In Sarrasine an impetuous young sculptor falls in love with a diva of the Roman stage, but rapture turns to rage when he discovers the reality behind the seductiveness of society. These examinations of the conflict between an artist’s commitment to his work and his obligations to others offer a perfect introduction to Balzac’s masterly storytelling. In The Unknown Masterpiece and Gambara Balzac portrays a painter and a compositor who, each in their own way, become obsessed with their search for utter perfection. The collection presents readers with five acclaimed stories about art and artists in which Balzac endowed a theme particularly close to his heart with a fusion of romance and realism. Besides the large novels that make up the so-called Human Comedy, Honoré de Balzac is the creator of a vast number of small-scale works, unknown masterpieces waiting to be rediscovered.

The Unknown Masterpiece and Other Stories.

The Unknown Masterpiece by Honoré de Balzac