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La Comédie Humaine #71
The Unknown Masterpiece
One of Honore de Balzac's most celebrated tales, "The Unknown Masterpiece" is the story of a painter who, depending on one's perspective, is either an abject failure or a transcendental genius--or both. The story, which has served as an inspiration to artists as various as Cezanne, Henry James, Picasso, and New Wave director Jacques Rivette, is, in critic Dore Ashton's words, a "fable of modern art." Published here in a new translation by poet Richard Howard, "The Unknown Masterpiece" appears, as Balzac intended, with "Gambara," a grotesque and tragic novella about a musician undone by his dreams.
Honoré De Balzac (1799-1850) is generally credited as the inventor of the modern realistic novel. In more than ninety novels, he set forth French society and life as he saw it. He created a cast of over two thousand individual and identifiable characters, some of whom reappear in different novels. He organized his works into his masterpiece, La Comedie Humaine,which was the final result of his attempt to grasp the whole of society and experience into one varied but unified work.
Richard Howard was born in Cleveland in 1929. He is the author of fourteen volumes of poetry and has published more than one hundred fifty translations from the French, including works by Gide, Stendhal, de Beauvoir, Baudelaire, and de Gaulle. Howard received a National Book Award for his translation of Fleurs du mal and a Pulitzer Prize for Untitled Subjects, a collection of poetry.
Honoré De Balzac (1799-1850) is generally credited as the inventor of the modern realistic novel. In more than ninety novels, he set forth French society and life as he saw it. He created a cast of over two thousand individual and identifiable characters, some of whom reappear in different novels. He organized his works into his masterpiece, La Comedie Humaine,which was the final result of his attempt to grasp the whole of society and experience into one varied but unified work.
Richard Howard was born in Cleveland in 1929. He is the author of fourteen volumes of poetry and has published more than one hundred fifty translations from the French, including works by Gide, Stendhal, de Beauvoir, Baudelaire, and de Gaulle. Howard received a National Book Award for his translation of Fleurs du mal and a Pulitzer Prize for Untitled Subjects, a collection of poetry.
135 pages, Paperback
First published August 1, 1831
About the author
Honoré de Balzac
9,067 books4,004 followersFrench writer Honoré de Balzac (born Honoré Balzac), a founder of the realist school of fiction, portrayed the panorama of society in a body of works, known collectively as
La comédie humaine
.
Honoré de Balzac authored 19th-century novels and plays. After the fall of Napoléon I Bonaparte in 1815, his magnum opus, a sequence of almost a hundred novels and plays, entitled, presents life in the years.
Due to keen observation of fine detail and unfiltered representation, European literature regards Balzac. He features renowned multifaceted, even complex, morally ambiguous, full lesser characters. Character well imbues inanimate objects; the city of Paris, a backdrop, takes on many qualities. He influenced many famous authors, including the novelists Marcel Proust, Émile Zola, Charles John Huffam Dickens, Gustave Flaubert, Henry James, and Jack Kerouac as well as important philosophers, such as Friedrich Engels. Many works of Balzac, made into films, continue to inspire.
An enthusiastic reader and independent thinker as a child, Balzac adapted with trouble to the teaching style of his grammar. His willful nature caused trouble throughout his life and frustrated his ambitions to succeed in the world of business. Balzac finished, and people then apprenticed him as a legal clerk, but after wearying of banal routine, he turned his back on law. He attempted a publisher, printer, businessman, critic, and politician before and during his career. He failed in these efforts. From his own experience, he reflects life difficulties and includes scenes.
Possibly due to his intense schedule and from health problems, Balzac suffered throughout his life. Financial and personal drama often strained his relationship with his family, and he lost more than one friend over critical reviews. In 1850, he married Ewelina Hańska, his longtime paramour; five months later, he passed away.
Honoré de Balzac authored 19th-century novels and plays. After the fall of Napoléon I Bonaparte in 1815, his magnum opus, a sequence of almost a hundred novels and plays, entitled, presents life in the years.
Due to keen observation of fine detail and unfiltered representation, European literature regards Balzac. He features renowned multifaceted, even complex, morally ambiguous, full lesser characters. Character well imbues inanimate objects; the city of Paris, a backdrop, takes on many qualities. He influenced many famous authors, including the novelists Marcel Proust, Émile Zola, Charles John Huffam Dickens, Gustave Flaubert, Henry James, and Jack Kerouac as well as important philosophers, such as Friedrich Engels. Many works of Balzac, made into films, continue to inspire.
An enthusiastic reader and independent thinker as a child, Balzac adapted with trouble to the teaching style of his grammar. His willful nature caused trouble throughout his life and frustrated his ambitions to succeed in the world of business. Balzac finished, and people then apprenticed him as a legal clerk, but after wearying of banal routine, he turned his back on law. He attempted a publisher, printer, businessman, critic, and politician before and during his career. He failed in these efforts. From his own experience, he reflects life difficulties and includes scenes.
Possibly due to his intense schedule and from health problems, Balzac suffered throughout his life. Financial and personal drama often strained his relationship with his family, and he lost more than one friend over critical reviews. In 1850, he married Ewelina Hańska, his longtime paramour; five months later, he passed away.
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September 15, 2022
Artist and His Model (1926) - by Pablo Picasso
This New York Review Books edition is indeed a classic since it includes not only two highly philosophical works by French master Honoré de Balzac on the nature of art and music but also an illuminating introductory essay by philosopher of art/art critic Arthur C. Danto. For the purposes of my review I will focus on the author's tour de force, The Unknown Masterpiece.
The story revolves around three painters - Porbus, Poussin and Frenhofer. Porbus can be seen as the Flemish painter Frans Pourbus. Poussin, in turn, can be seen as the master Nicolas Poussin in his youth. As for Frenhofer, the true genius in the story, he's a creation of Balzac’s imagination. After reading and falling in loving with this short work, many are the artists who have linked themselves to Frenhofer, including Picasso, Matisse and Cézanne.
Rather than simply recapping events within the story, I will turn to a number of provocative philosophical questions raised by Balzac’s tale.
Firstly, there is the matter of art as a form of magic. In his essay on The Unknown Masterpiece included in this NYRB edition, Danto states: "From the perspective of magic, every image has the possibility of coming to life, and perhaps the first images every drawn, however crudely executed, were viewed with an awe that still remains a disposition of the most primitive regions of the human brain. This is why images have been forbidden in so many of the great religions of the world, and why they have been destroyed in the name of iconoclasm. It is why Plato was afraid of art, and drove artists from his Republic."
At one point Frenhofer judges a portrait painted by Probus: “You can see she’s pasted on the canvas – you could never walk around her.”
To paint in such a way that the viewer can mentally walk around a woman, man, animal, plant or other object painted on canvas requires rendering a two dimensional plane into three dimensions, technical expertise developed in the Western artistic tradition over centuries, reaching staggering heights beginning in the period of the Italian Renaissance.
Yet to really vitalize a painting, an added ingredient is needed. What shall we call it? Genius, perhaps?
At this juncture, we can make a critical point: if any image can come to life, even those first images created in the dawn of humanity as Danto notes, how powerful and magical is a painting infused by highly polished technique coupled with the spark of genius? Now institutions and champions of the status quo who fear the power of the image really have something to worry about.
Frans Pourbus the Younger - Portrait of Isabella Clara Eugenia, around 1600-1615
Nicolas Poussin - detail from Eliezer and Rebecca at the Well, l648
We can move on to critical point number two: for the artists in the tale, as for nearly all artists, is it any accident hot-blooded passionate love for another person is so much a part of their lives and has such an influence on their art?
There’s something both inspiring and intoxicating about love, most especially erotic love, and how eroticism mixed in with the mystery of artistic creation is nothing less than explosive. Frenhofer exclaims, “Oh! I would give all I possess if just once, for a single moment, I could gaze upon that complete, that divine nature; if I could meet that ideal heavenly beauty, I would search for her in limbo itself!”
And the female nude? Oh, yes, as Balzac details in his story, the keg of dynamite that is erotic love becomes supercharged even further when an artist takes a woman’s nudity as the subject. Again, Frenhofer: “Poetry and women show themselves naked only to their lovers!”
And the female who poses nude for Frenhofer? The beautiful Gillette, the loving mistress of Poussin. You will have to read for yourself to find out exactly how Balzac’s story unfolds.
Shifting our focus to a slightly different topic, does the sense of place participate in this creative and artistic magic? In the spirit of his realistic prose, Balzac notes the exact locations of the artist’s studios – Rue des Grands-Augustins, Pont Saint-Michel, Rue de la Harpe. Ah, Paris! Such a magnet for artists. So inspired was Pablo Picasso by Balzac's story, he moved his studio to Nº 7 Rue des Grands-Augustins.
Lastly, at the very end of the story, along with Porbus and Poussin, we encounter the masterpiece Frenhofer has spent the last ten years of his life painting. From Balzac’s description, can you see what the artist wishes you to see? And what does it mean to know a masterpiece? Taking Picasso’s Artist and His Model pictured above, what would it mean to come to know this work of art? Or maybe a better question would be: Could we ever completely know such art? Does a measure of power derive from its mystery? And there’s that foot! Echoes of Frenhofer and Balzac?
January 19, 2020
Easily the best entry point into Balzac's impressive oeuvre, these two short novellas display the key features of this literary master's ability. The first feature is astounding, complex description, and the second is dramatic, intelligent dialogue. The latter is worthy of a grandiose stage play and the former is often as striking as a prose poem. Combining these approaches, Balzac allows the characters take on intense life during the simple dramatic context he constructs.
"The Unknown Masterpiece" provides the perfect setup for Balzac to discus (or show off) what he knows about artistic form and composition. At the same time, he displays these very architecturally sound qualities in his own writing. The characters are vivid in the extreme and the descriptions are superb. Balzac casually casts aphorisms and pithy pronouncements into intricate tapestries of sentences until it takes effort and concentration to grasp the far-reaching concepts he's simultaneously lassoing in amid the interplay of ideas. Though he argues there is often an unbridgeable gap between conception and execution, he proves the exception to the rule by expressing with utter perfection lucid concepts and splendid thematic irony. Many artists have few affinity with the historical figures from the 17th century depicted in this story including Picasso and Cézanne.
This edition includes an excellent, if not essential, introduction providing additional historical context.
"Gambara" is the second, longer novella. Its focus pertains to music, though many of the pronouncements made by the eccentric characters echo those of the first piece. Taken together, they are both complementary and contrasting. With playful humor, the author contrives basic scenes to give his disproportionately ingenious characters a soapbox, and it is a joy to read their sinuous arguments and philosophical rants. Balzac is a consummate stylist, who with grand gestures and crystal clarity deepens verisimilitude. In this quick read, the expression of intelligence is everywhere in evidence.
"The Unknown Masterpiece" provides the perfect setup for Balzac to discus (or show off) what he knows about artistic form and composition. At the same time, he displays these very architecturally sound qualities in his own writing. The characters are vivid in the extreme and the descriptions are superb. Balzac casually casts aphorisms and pithy pronouncements into intricate tapestries of sentences until it takes effort and concentration to grasp the far-reaching concepts he's simultaneously lassoing in amid the interplay of ideas. Though he argues there is often an unbridgeable gap between conception and execution, he proves the exception to the rule by expressing with utter perfection lucid concepts and splendid thematic irony. Many artists have few affinity with the historical figures from the 17th century depicted in this story including Picasso and Cézanne.
This edition includes an excellent, if not essential, introduction providing additional historical context.
"Gambara" is the second, longer novella. Its focus pertains to music, though many of the pronouncements made by the eccentric characters echo those of the first piece. Taken together, they are both complementary and contrasting. With playful humor, the author contrives basic scenes to give his disproportionately ingenious characters a soapbox, and it is a joy to read their sinuous arguments and philosophical rants. Balzac is a consummate stylist, who with grand gestures and crystal clarity deepens verisimilitude. In this quick read, the expression of intelligence is everywhere in evidence.
January 13, 2019
Ten years in the making but seen by no one, aspiring artist Nicolas Poussin and established artist Francois Porbus attempt to catch a glimpse of legendary artist Frenhofer’s so called masterpiece after being invited to his studio, where Nicolas is awestruck by Frenhofer’s talent.
Nicolas is young, confident, and full of passion, and believes he can conquer the world. He studies under the established royal court artist Porbus, but one such meeting is interrupted by the appearance of the elderly and legendary master painter Frenhofer. He is as quick to paint as he is to talk philosophically about art, and launches into a speech about the nature of art, arguing that painting must involve a love of the subject and a love of the craft itself. Art, he argues, is not merely about copying life, but expressing it and finding the beauty and love in it.
Nicolas, determined to find a way to see the painting, has a plan - he will offer his lover and muse, the stunningly beautiful Gillette as a model for Frenhofer in exchange for a glimpse of his masterpiece. Gillette, a sensitive young woman, is unfailingly loyal, gentle, and loving, and is hurt that Nicolas would offer her up in such a way, but accepts this out of love for Nicolas.
Honore de Balzac makes the argument through the character Frenhofer that art is more than merely copying life, insisting it's about expressing life, love, and beauty–the things of which Porbus lacks, and which Frenhofer’s own masterpiece contains. He also emphasises that art combines the love of the subject, and love of the painting itself. And only when both forms of love are combined is a true work of art made in it's purest form.
A decent enough read, but one I couldn't help think would have been better in the hands of de Maupassant.
Nicolas is young, confident, and full of passion, and believes he can conquer the world. He studies under the established royal court artist Porbus, but one such meeting is interrupted by the appearance of the elderly and legendary master painter Frenhofer. He is as quick to paint as he is to talk philosophically about art, and launches into a speech about the nature of art, arguing that painting must involve a love of the subject and a love of the craft itself. Art, he argues, is not merely about copying life, but expressing it and finding the beauty and love in it.
Nicolas, determined to find a way to see the painting, has a plan - he will offer his lover and muse, the stunningly beautiful Gillette as a model for Frenhofer in exchange for a glimpse of his masterpiece. Gillette, a sensitive young woman, is unfailingly loyal, gentle, and loving, and is hurt that Nicolas would offer her up in such a way, but accepts this out of love for Nicolas.
Honore de Balzac makes the argument through the character Frenhofer that art is more than merely copying life, insisting it's about expressing life, love, and beauty–the things of which Porbus lacks, and which Frenhofer’s own masterpiece contains. He also emphasises that art combines the love of the subject, and love of the painting itself. And only when both forms of love are combined is a true work of art made in it's purest form.
A decent enough read, but one I couldn't help think would have been better in the hands of de Maupassant.
March 17, 2021
Ovo je bio jedan mali blistavi čas estetike, gde su šćućurene viševekovne teorijske opsesije: od pitanja podražavanja (mimezisa), teorije (likovne) kritike, odnosa forme i sadržaja, linije, valera, oblika i boje, sve do anatomije sujete i pitanja talenta i stvaralačkog genija. Vrlo je zanimljiv Balzakov verbalni iluzionizam u kome tekstualno sugestivnošću pretiče vizuelno i čak mi je drago što mnoga svoja dela nije brusio onoliko koliko bi neko od njega to mogao očekivati, jer taj spisateljski jurišni neizdrž u svim svojim šarmantnim nedostacima čini delo divno životnim, čak i kada je vidno artificijalno.
Tako je „Nepoznato remek-delo” jedna nakinđurena bombonjera preslatkih pralina sa gorkim punjenjem, sastavljena od dve pregrade. Pažljivim degustatorima kvrcnuće u toj kutiji i duplo dno, jer više je osumljičenih remek-dela prizvanih u naslovu. Ali da ne otkrivam šta se sve (još) može otkriti, moram istaći da nipošto nije nezanimljivo zalaziti u pariske ateljee početkom 17. veka, naročito ukoliko vam je pratilac tada još mladi Nikola Pusen, koji, kao svaka ambiciozna pridošlica, pokušava da pronađe svoje mesto u umetničkom svetu. Još kada mu se putevi ukrste sa jednim zelenookim starčićem magnetskog pogleda...
Tako je „Nepoznato remek-delo” jedna nakinđurena bombonjera preslatkih pralina sa gorkim punjenjem, sastavljena od dve pregrade. Pažljivim degustatorima kvrcnuće u toj kutiji i duplo dno, jer više je osumljičenih remek-dela prizvanih u naslovu. Ali da ne otkrivam šta se sve (još) može otkriti, moram istaći da nipošto nije nezanimljivo zalaziti u pariske ateljee početkom 17. veka, naročito ukoliko vam je pratilac tada još mladi Nikola Pusen, koji, kao svaka ambiciozna pridošlica, pokušava da pronađe svoje mesto u umetničkom svetu. Još kada mu se putevi ukrste sa jednim zelenookim starčićem magnetskog pogleda...
March 9, 2019
Balzac focuses on the fine line between genius and madness. Frenhofer is an interesting character and I loved the scene in which he alters Porbus' portrait while discussing the virtues of 'true art'. The second story, Gambara, is similar thematically, although I didn't enjoy the discussion of musical composition as much. A good little book and I can see why artists such as Picasso held it in such high regard. Strong three stars.
February 7, 2013
I must say that I greatly enjoyed Balzac's exploration of the idea that in art, it is not enough to simply copy reality. There is a reason that 'art' shares its root with 'artificial'. When we take the form of life and reproduce it on the page, or in sculpture, it becomes reduced and limited by the medium, losing its vitality and becoming corpselike. When we reduce a breathing, three-dimensional figure to the unmoving, flat plane of the canvas, depth is inevitably lost. So, as artists, we must replace that true vitality with some other energy, with creative energy, producing forms that are stylized, idealized, more beautiful, more grotesque, and more meaningful than can exist in nature. Mimicry of life without purpose and direction is the least form of art, if indeed it can be called art at all--the only style which the that author lends to his work is only the result of his flaws as a craftsman.
July 10, 2021
Short Story by Balzac.
Unknown masterpiece is about the thing that is unknowable, noncommunicable, and undescriptive in nature. When Two painters Porbus and Poussin(they exist in real life) met maitre Frenhofer while he is showing errors in his drawing technique on why his drawing is not alive? He took a shine on these two guys.
The definition of art was totally different for Frenhofer and these two guys. For Frenhofer, the Female figure is not only bound by contours but also with color and lighting, and many other things. Even love is not only bound by the physical form but it has a special connection with his art piece. In that last moment, Porbus and Poussin lost their credibility as artists cause they are not able to see beyond the splatters of colors and true artist engulfed in flame with his unknown masterpiece.
As Balzac words
Fruits of love withers quickly, those of arts are immortal
Unknown masterpiece is about the thing that is unknowable, noncommunicable, and undescriptive in nature. When Two painters Porbus and Poussin(they exist in real life) met maitre Frenhofer while he is showing errors in his drawing technique on why his drawing is not alive? He took a shine on these two guys.
The definition of art was totally different for Frenhofer and these two guys. For Frenhofer, the Female figure is not only bound by contours but also with color and lighting, and many other things. Even love is not only bound by the physical form but it has a special connection with his art piece. In that last moment, Porbus and Poussin lost their credibility as artists cause they are not able to see beyond the splatters of colors and true artist engulfed in flame with his unknown masterpiece.
As Balzac words
Fruits of love withers quickly, those of arts are immortal
December 4, 2023
SOAP IMPRESSION REVIEW:
Formally perfect, both dense and elegiac at the same time. I mean, shit, it’s Balzac—not like I’m capable of adding color commentary worth pisswater even if I tried. The blurby deal is true: you could find far less pacific waters in which to join his immense Comédie’s swoop and currents than by paddling in here. I still maintain the ten years gone painting is the one, or at least a hell of a lot more to my taste, likely. Sadly, Balzac didn’t bother to actually paint any of the fictional masterpieces for inclusion. Lazy.
Also: Add a nobiliary particle to your name and get a free liter of Cointreau while supplies last, de Dear Friend! Act now.
Formally perfect, both dense and elegiac at the same time. I mean, shit, it’s Balzac—not like I’m capable of adding color commentary worth pisswater even if I tried. The blurby deal is true: you could find far less pacific waters in which to join his immense Comédie’s swoop and currents than by paddling in here. I still maintain the ten years gone painting is the one, or at least a hell of a lot more to my taste, likely. Sadly, Balzac didn’t bother to actually paint any of the fictional masterpieces for inclusion. Lazy.
Also: Add a nobiliary particle to your name and get a free liter of Cointreau while supplies last, de Dear Friend! Act now.
July 10, 2015
In his essay 'The Death of the Author,' William Gass fires off a machine gun at Roland Barthes, and Balzac, thanks to Barthes's "S/Z", is taken out as collateral damage. "Balzac relishes [bourgeois] stereotypes and pat phrases and vulgar elegancies; his taste is that of the turtle which has found itself in a robust soup; he, too, would flatter the reader, the public, the world which receives him until it receives him well and warmly; and Roland Barthes, for all his fripperies like like on a sleeve, for all his textual pleasures... is no better, accepting a pseudoradical role as if it were the last one left in the basket... Balzac is more moral the way more money is more money; his is the ultimate hosanna of utility; however hard his eye, his look will land light."
I thought that was harsh, but really, this is pretty mediocre stuff, saved by the fact that it's fun to think about. These are two stories ("Gambara" is the second) about artists who fail in their art because they try to make the art too theoretically sound, too philosophically reflective, too didactic.
That is, these are two philosophically reflective, didactic stories about how artists who are philosophically reflective and didactic ultimately fail as artists. Really, Honore? Well yes, really, because *if he had noticed that his stories insist that these particular stories must be garbage, he would have broken his own rules.* The only way to write stories is unconsciously, with genius, which means no caring about things like internal intellectual consistency, form, or craft. So although the stories themselves are intellectually incoherent, they are *also* intellectually coherent.
This is the kind of paradox that you only get from people like Balzac, whose greatness is due entirely to his being willing to write constantly, whether he has anything to say or not. Balzac is a drudge. These two stories are about geniuses who, through an excess of drudgery, have betrayed their genius.
Perhaps, in these stories, an excess of genius led Balzac to betray the drudgery that makes him great.
So, fun to talk about, but pretty dull reading, especially when the artists start talking about their art. I'll take James' stories about artists any day.
I thought that was harsh, but really, this is pretty mediocre stuff, saved by the fact that it's fun to think about. These are two stories ("Gambara" is the second) about artists who fail in their art because they try to make the art too theoretically sound, too philosophically reflective, too didactic.
That is, these are two philosophically reflective, didactic stories about how artists who are philosophically reflective and didactic ultimately fail as artists. Really, Honore? Well yes, really, because *if he had noticed that his stories insist that these particular stories must be garbage, he would have broken his own rules.* The only way to write stories is unconsciously, with genius, which means no caring about things like internal intellectual consistency, form, or craft. So although the stories themselves are intellectually incoherent, they are *also* intellectually coherent.
This is the kind of paradox that you only get from people like Balzac, whose greatness is due entirely to his being willing to write constantly, whether he has anything to say or not. Balzac is a drudge. These two stories are about geniuses who, through an excess of drudgery, have betrayed their genius.
Perhaps, in these stories, an excess of genius led Balzac to betray the drudgery that makes him great.
So, fun to talk about, but pretty dull reading, especially when the artists start talking about their art. I'll take James' stories about artists any day.
October 7, 2017
I am yet to discover a story that deals with artistic obsession so overtly and dramatically. The masterpiece at the center is a teasing device used by Balzac to play with the idea of perception, and to ultimately question the many interpretations of the "ideal" an artist aspires to. There is a lore that the house in Paris where this story is set was purchased by Picasso because he saw a parallel of himself in the central character. It is not unbelievable if you think about it. The old painter Frenhofer, takes 10 years to represent air in his painting. That he is either ridiculed or is taken for a misunderstood genius (however you like it) is another matter.
But I was so happy to read this book because Balzac made a beautiful observation about youth and its relation to art. Something anyone who has written or painted or made some art would feel at one point, but hardly think through the way it is done here:
"There is a first bloom in all human feelings, the result of a noble enthusiasm which fades till happiness is no more than a memory, glory a lie. Among such fragile sentiments, none so resembles love as a youthful passion of a artist first suffering that delicious torture which will be his destiny of glory and of woe, a passion brimming with boldness and fear, vague hopes and inevitable frustrations. The youth who, short of cash but long on talent, fails to tremble upon first encountering a master, must always lack at least one heartstring, some sensitivity in his brushstroke, a certain poetic expressiveness. There may be conceited boasters prematurely convinced that the future is theirs, but only fools believe them."
Both the stories in this collection (the other being "Gambara") are about dangerous obsessions that consume artists and how they affect the people around them, but they are more about the individual search for the sublime. There is no way to represent that search in a story. It can be the most consuming of fictions in theory but results in irony: how do you show a masterpiece in the making? Because that is not consumable in execution. A painter toiling over his painting all day long, for months, years, decades, is not drama. The same is with any art. So you zoom out a little, focus on people around the artist, have them talk about the art in the making, create myths about the artist, focus on how they are ultimately affected. What stake do they have? Is it a good gamble on their part? What if they end up wasting their lives for nothing? That introduces ethical questions in the mix, a possibility of conflict. Some drama at last!
That is what Balzac relies on to structure his tales, but what he seems to be saying is akin to an observation made in "Gambara": Too much knowledge, like too much ignorance, leads to negation.
But I was so happy to read this book because Balzac made a beautiful observation about youth and its relation to art. Something anyone who has written or painted or made some art would feel at one point, but hardly think through the way it is done here:
"There is a first bloom in all human feelings, the result of a noble enthusiasm which fades till happiness is no more than a memory, glory a lie. Among such fragile sentiments, none so resembles love as a youthful passion of a artist first suffering that delicious torture which will be his destiny of glory and of woe, a passion brimming with boldness and fear, vague hopes and inevitable frustrations. The youth who, short of cash but long on talent, fails to tremble upon first encountering a master, must always lack at least one heartstring, some sensitivity in his brushstroke, a certain poetic expressiveness. There may be conceited boasters prematurely convinced that the future is theirs, but only fools believe them."
Both the stories in this collection (the other being "Gambara") are about dangerous obsessions that consume artists and how they affect the people around them, but they are more about the individual search for the sublime. There is no way to represent that search in a story. It can be the most consuming of fictions in theory but results in irony: how do you show a masterpiece in the making? Because that is not consumable in execution. A painter toiling over his painting all day long, for months, years, decades, is not drama. The same is with any art. So you zoom out a little, focus on people around the artist, have them talk about the art in the making, create myths about the artist, focus on how they are ultimately affected. What stake do they have? Is it a good gamble on their part? What if they end up wasting their lives for nothing? That introduces ethical questions in the mix, a possibility of conflict. Some drama at last!
That is what Balzac relies on to structure his tales, but what he seems to be saying is akin to an observation made in "Gambara": Too much knowledge, like too much ignorance, leads to negation.
August 8, 2020
"Every great talent is absolutist."
This book contains a pair of short stories dB for his mega-project La Comédie humaine, a multi-novel/story look at life in France after Napoleon. These two in particular deal with artists, a painter in the titular story, a crazed composer in the second, "Gambara".
Both deal with the idea of the artist as a kind of daring if absolutist madman, someone beyond the pale of normal behavior or good sense, someone whose brain has likely been fried by the lightning-strike of inspiration and obsession, their ears bending to no one else. "Masterpiece" is about a young painter visiting his idol in the early 17th century where he learns of a secret painting an old master is working on that is said to be an attempt to do the impossible and capture sublime beauty. "Gambara" is about a Scriabin-like composer (but nearly a century prior) who invents wacky instruments and dissonant tones for his overly-ambitious opera.
dB digs deep into an artist's peculiar and necessary obsessions and cravings, so the pair of stories make for an interesting take on the philosophy, for the lack of a better word, of the artist's curse. Concomitant to that is the notion that an artist runs the risk of removing themselves from the context of nature, their own or someone else's, to the point that love and devotion are shredded in the name of their elusive goal.
This book contains a pair of short stories dB for his mega-project La Comédie humaine, a multi-novel/story look at life in France after Napoleon. These two in particular deal with artists, a painter in the titular story, a crazed composer in the second, "Gambara".
Both deal with the idea of the artist as a kind of daring if absolutist madman, someone beyond the pale of normal behavior or good sense, someone whose brain has likely been fried by the lightning-strike of inspiration and obsession, their ears bending to no one else. "Masterpiece" is about a young painter visiting his idol in the early 17th century where he learns of a secret painting an old master is working on that is said to be an attempt to do the impossible and capture sublime beauty. "Gambara" is about a Scriabin-like composer (but nearly a century prior) who invents wacky instruments and dissonant tones for his overly-ambitious opera.
dB digs deep into an artist's peculiar and necessary obsessions and cravings, so the pair of stories make for an interesting take on the philosophy, for the lack of a better word, of the artist's curse. Concomitant to that is the notion that an artist runs the risk of removing themselves from the context of nature, their own or someone else's, to the point that love and devotion are shredded in the name of their elusive goal.
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September 4, 20234.5 stars - Unknown Masterpiece
4 stars - Gambara
The two novellas pair nicely with their themes of visionary art vs. tragic folly.
4 stars - Gambara
The two novellas pair nicely with their themes of visionary art vs. tragic folly.
July 2, 2018
14 October 2012
This is the first I've read of Honore de Balzac, and I was not in the least disappointed. More poetry than prose, the writing was among the finest I've ever read, reminding me at times of Tolstoy or Dostoevsky and at other times of Djuna Barnes (whom T.S. Eliot said one must be trained in understanding poetry in order to fully appreciate). It was so easy to get lost in the detailed descriptions and the dialogue between the characters that I finished the relatively short book in just a day. "The Unknown Masterpiece" was perhaps the best story that I've ever read about the artist's struggle, about passion and creative genius spiraling into madness. On another level, you had a story about the objectification of women in art. It is a very rich story from a literary, artistic, philosophical and sociological perspective, and a story that I will certainly read again in the near future. I was not as thoroughly impressed with "Gambara" -- a story about musical genius, passion and misery -- but the writing is still very fine, and Balzac's command of musical knowledge and of language is still highly impressive. I am not trained to read French, but I really enjoyed Richard Howard's translation.
2 July 2018
I encountered Balzac for the first time through The Unknown Masterpiece almost six years ago. Now I look at it again after having read about a dozen (plus) stories that make up his Human Comedy, and it still is one of the finer works and a testament to his role as the father of literary realism. It also, as many of the best works in La Comédie humaine, is very poetic and philosophical. And at its core, we are presented with the question of what the artist must suffer for his art. One young artist sacrifices love. An older artist sacrifices sanity. The themes about art are similar in many ways to his short story "Sarrasine." And I was reminded of a line from Patti Smith's memoir Just Kids, a conversation she had with her friend Robert Mapplethorpe before his death:
'Patti, did art get us?'
I looked away, not really wanting to think about it. 'I don't know, Robert. I don't know.'
Perhaps it did, but no one could regret that. Only a fool would regret being had by art; or a saint.
Maybe, but sometimes the stakes are very high. Is the cost of becoming a great artist always worth it in the end? Would Balzac's characters later in life regret being "had" by art? Perhaps, if they are honest with themselves. And then again, maybe not.
This is the first I've read of Honore de Balzac, and I was not in the least disappointed. More poetry than prose, the writing was among the finest I've ever read, reminding me at times of Tolstoy or Dostoevsky and at other times of Djuna Barnes (whom T.S. Eliot said one must be trained in understanding poetry in order to fully appreciate). It was so easy to get lost in the detailed descriptions and the dialogue between the characters that I finished the relatively short book in just a day. "The Unknown Masterpiece" was perhaps the best story that I've ever read about the artist's struggle, about passion and creative genius spiraling into madness. On another level, you had a story about the objectification of women in art. It is a very rich story from a literary, artistic, philosophical and sociological perspective, and a story that I will certainly read again in the near future. I was not as thoroughly impressed with "Gambara" -- a story about musical genius, passion and misery -- but the writing is still very fine, and Balzac's command of musical knowledge and of language is still highly impressive. I am not trained to read French, but I really enjoyed Richard Howard's translation.
2 July 2018
I encountered Balzac for the first time through The Unknown Masterpiece almost six years ago. Now I look at it again after having read about a dozen (plus) stories that make up his Human Comedy, and it still is one of the finer works and a testament to his role as the father of literary realism. It also, as many of the best works in La Comédie humaine, is very poetic and philosophical. And at its core, we are presented with the question of what the artist must suffer for his art. One young artist sacrifices love. An older artist sacrifices sanity. The themes about art are similar in many ways to his short story "Sarrasine." And I was reminded of a line from Patti Smith's memoir Just Kids, a conversation she had with her friend Robert Mapplethorpe before his death:
'Patti, did art get us?'
I looked away, not really wanting to think about it. 'I don't know, Robert. I don't know.'
Perhaps it did, but no one could regret that. Only a fool would regret being had by art; or a saint.
Maybe, but sometimes the stakes are very high. Is the cost of becoming a great artist always worth it in the end? Would Balzac's characters later in life regret being "had" by art? Perhaps, if they are honest with themselves. And then again, maybe not.
May 6, 2017
I'm sorry, Balzac! There are some worthwhile philosophical points about art, particularly painting and music, but when I dive into a story, I want more than just essay (the characters aren't really people, but vehicles for ideas). To be fair, though, the form of the novel hadn't really taken off yet at the time this was written (1830s).
"There's no escaping it; too much knowledge, like too much ignorance, leads to a negation. My work is ... my doubt!"
"There's no escaping it; too much knowledge, like too much ignorance, leads to a negation. My work is ... my doubt!"
February 14, 2021
The story of how I got to read this book is so weird. Normally I read about artists a lot and when I read the name Frenhofer in article speaking about a hidden masterpiece (or unknown masterpiece) of course the first thing I would do is to search for the artist. However that was a useless and futile search. And then someone mentioned the book. You know me better now, I found it on Gutenberg project and what a book. It’s worth reading so many times not just once.
Excerpts:
Your good woman is not badly done, but she is not alive. You artists fancy that when a figure is correctly drawn, and everything in its place according to the rules of anatomy, there is nothing more to be done. You make up the flesh tints beforehand on your palettes according to your formulae, and fill in the outlines with due care that one side of the face shall be darker than the other; and because you look from time to time at a naked woman who stands on the platform before you, you fondly imagine that you have copied nature, think yourselves to be painters, believe that you have wrested His secret from God
The aim of art is not to copy nature, but to express it. You are not a servile copyist, but a poet!” cried the old man sharply, cutting Porbus short with an imperious gesture. “Otherwise a sculptor might make a plaster cast of a living woman and save himself all further trouble
Do you see anything?” Poussin asked of Porbus.
“No... do you?”
“I see nothing.”
“There is a woman beneath,” exclaimed Porbus, calling Poussin’s attention to the coats of paint with which the old artist had overlaid and concealed his work in the quest of perfection.
And then Frenhofer died. What a tragedy.
It’s my first book for Balzac, but it won’t be the last.
Excerpts:
Your good woman is not badly done, but she is not alive. You artists fancy that when a figure is correctly drawn, and everything in its place according to the rules of anatomy, there is nothing more to be done. You make up the flesh tints beforehand on your palettes according to your formulae, and fill in the outlines with due care that one side of the face shall be darker than the other; and because you look from time to time at a naked woman who stands on the platform before you, you fondly imagine that you have copied nature, think yourselves to be painters, believe that you have wrested His secret from God
The aim of art is not to copy nature, but to express it. You are not a servile copyist, but a poet!” cried the old man sharply, cutting Porbus short with an imperious gesture. “Otherwise a sculptor might make a plaster cast of a living woman and save himself all further trouble
Do you see anything?” Poussin asked of Porbus.
“No... do you?”
“I see nothing.”
“There is a woman beneath,” exclaimed Porbus, calling Poussin’s attention to the coats of paint with which the old artist had overlaid and concealed his work in the quest of perfection.
And then Frenhofer died. What a tragedy.
It’s my first book for Balzac, but it won’t be the last.
February 5, 2023
Le Chef-d’œuvre inconnu, the title story, was great. The plot is thin and really just allows for a discourse on painting and art. Despite its brevity it has a lot to say. Also it led me to the film La Belle Noiseuse, which I enjoyed.
Gambara, the second story which takes up two thirds of the book, I did not enjoy. The plot, again thin, is mean-spirited in a way I couldn't get behind. I think as a general rule anytime you see a 19th century French writer use the word coquette you're in for some nonsense.
The discourse on music I found hard to follow. I don't know if that's because I'm not great with music in general or because I'm not familiar enough with the work under discussion. There are a few good quips, like the one about how a French chef, once he is assured the meal is paid for, doesn't really care what you think about it, whereas for an Italian chef no amount of praise is ever sufficient. Nice to see Robert le Diable hasn't been forgotten. I didn't realize it was an opera.
So, a mixed bag. Still, I'm going to continue on with Balzac. His style reminds me of what I like about Houellebecq, which probably explains why Houellebecq is a fan of his.
Gambara, the second story which takes up two thirds of the book, I did not enjoy. The plot, again thin, is mean-spirited in a way I couldn't get behind. I think as a general rule anytime you see a 19th century French writer use the word coquette you're in for some nonsense.
The discourse on music I found hard to follow. I don't know if that's because I'm not great with music in general or because I'm not familiar enough with the work under discussion. There are a few good quips, like the one about how a French chef, once he is assured the meal is paid for, doesn't really care what you think about it, whereas for an Italian chef no amount of praise is ever sufficient. Nice to see Robert le Diable hasn't been forgotten. I didn't realize it was an opera.
So, a mixed bag. Still, I'm going to continue on with Balzac. His style reminds me of what I like about Houellebecq, which probably explains why Houellebecq is a fan of his.
December 27, 2012
This volume actually contains two stories - The Unknown Masterpiece and Gambara. Both are about artists (one painter, one composer) who are on the brink of modern styles, and both stories speak to what art is, how an artist becomes a master of craft, and what realities we are willing to embrace in order for the art to succeed.
I feel like either of these stories would be compelling discussion with music or art majors in college. These are both short but dense with ideas. I am not certain how reading Gambara would be for people who don't know music, because so much of it is written in key signatures and rhythms. Luckily I speak this language.
Little thoughtful bits:
The Unknown Masterpiece
"It's not the mission of art to copy nature, but to express it! Remember, artists aren't mere imitators, they're poets!"
"Beauty is something difficult and austere which can't be captured that way: you must bide your time, lie in wait, seize it, and hug it close with all your might in order to make it yield."
"There's your proof that our art is like nature itself, composed of an infinity of elements: drawing accounts for the skeleton, color supplies life, but life without a skeleton is even more deficient than a skeleton without life."
"Love conquers all... but it will be the ruin of me. Oh, I'm perfectly willing to ruin myself for your sake!"
Gambara
"Hitherto man has merely noted effects rather than causes! If he were to penetrate the causes, music would become the greatest of all the arts. Is it not the art which penetrates the soul most deeply? We see only what painting shows us, we hear only what the poet tells us, music goes far beyond that: Does it not form your very thoughts, does it not waken torpid memories?"
"Music alone has the power to make us return to our inmost selves."
I feel like either of these stories would be compelling discussion with music or art majors in college. These are both short but dense with ideas. I am not certain how reading Gambara would be for people who don't know music, because so much of it is written in key signatures and rhythms. Luckily I speak this language.
Little thoughtful bits:
The Unknown Masterpiece
"It's not the mission of art to copy nature, but to express it! Remember, artists aren't mere imitators, they're poets!"
"Beauty is something difficult and austere which can't be captured that way: you must bide your time, lie in wait, seize it, and hug it close with all your might in order to make it yield."
"There's your proof that our art is like nature itself, composed of an infinity of elements: drawing accounts for the skeleton, color supplies life, but life without a skeleton is even more deficient than a skeleton without life."
"Love conquers all... but it will be the ruin of me. Oh, I'm perfectly willing to ruin myself for your sake!"
Gambara
"Hitherto man has merely noted effects rather than causes! If he were to penetrate the causes, music would become the greatest of all the arts. Is it not the art which penetrates the soul most deeply? We see only what painting shows us, we hear only what the poet tells us, music goes far beyond that: Does it not form your very thoughts, does it not waken torpid memories?"
"Music alone has the power to make us return to our inmost selves."
April 15, 2022
These two stories are superficially very similar: both concern artistic expression and artistic obsession. However, one of the two is much more refined than the other. The Unknown Masterpiece is a very dynamic story, culminating in a reveal which is both satisfying and thought-provoking. It is easy to see why it was such an inspiring story for so many great artists who were working in unorthodox styles. In my view, it is more or less perfect.
Gambara, by comparison, is a much more rambling thing. Whereas the philsophical dialogues in the previous story were easy to follow and obviously relevant, the equivalent dialogues in Gambara are more confusing and filled with references to music which many readers simply won't understand. I know more than nothing (but less than a lot) about music theory, and large swaths of the discussion went over my head. Still, outside of these sections, it is basically a very interesting story, and it builds to a moving conclusion. It's just a shame that it does this much more slowly than The Unknown Masterpiece. It would probably seem like a better story if it wasn't bundled in with something that is both similar in topic and more effectively executed.
Gambara, by comparison, is a much more rambling thing. Whereas the philsophical dialogues in the previous story were easy to follow and obviously relevant, the equivalent dialogues in Gambara are more confusing and filled with references to music which many readers simply won't understand. I know more than nothing (but less than a lot) about music theory, and large swaths of the discussion went over my head. Still, outside of these sections, it is basically a very interesting story, and it builds to a moving conclusion. It's just a shame that it does this much more slowly than The Unknown Masterpiece. It would probably seem like a better story if it wasn't bundled in with something that is both similar in topic and more effectively executed.
November 20, 2016
2016 NYRB Renewal Freebie for Book of the Month Club.
I enjoyed the first story, but was less enamored of the second.
I enjoyed the first story, but was less enamored of the second.
March 29, 2017
Thank you to Lisa for writing about this short but profound story. A tragic tale about perfection and destruction, and the danger in pursuing the former too far.
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December 25, 2020“At the sight of the gold piece, old Gambara wept; then a memory of his former scientific labors returned, and as he wiped away his tears, the poor composer uttered a sentence which the occasion made quite touching “water,” he said, “is a burnt substance.” (135)
“All I see are colors daubed one on top of the other and contained by a mass of strange lines forming a wall of paint.”(40)
“All I see are colors daubed one on top of the other and contained by a mass of strange lines forming a wall of paint.”(40)
April 12, 2022
This hit me like a truck. An absolutely perfect story. Such a complex message and such strong, but subtle aesthetics in such a short story.
February 26, 2019
Honore de Balzac's short novella The Unknown Masterpiece is about the frailities of artistic creation and art's vanity. It depicts a master painter who is of the belief that 'it is not enough to copy life through the medium of artistic creation to give birth to life forms in painting, but it is in the expression of love for both art and life where the real skill lies'. The master painter goes into lengthy diatribes denouncing the commonly held opinions about art and justifies and upholds his own views on it which he thinks are unique and which he thinks is privy to no one else. He collects an admirer in a poor and eager young painter whom he brings under his tutelage and another contemporary who is his friend. At the end we see him in despair as he tries to guard his vanity by taking the young painter's lover as a model, and finally realising that his attempt to give birth to life forms on the canvas had been all in vain.
The other story Gambara is certainly odd as it recounts the tale of a self-obsessed music composer who flies into delirious dreams of musical perfection in his state of inebriation, and who recounts the creation and objectives of his three completed works to a scheming Milanese count infatuated with his young wife. The count's sole objective is to expose the flaws of his intoxicated character when he invites the composer and his wife to a banquet. In between draughts of wine the artist flies into a high-flown and lengthy discourse into the ideas of musical composition which he expounds before the count. This ends when the composer falls down unconscious in his wife's arms, thus exposing him. The wife, who is already quite taken with the count, leaves her husband in squalor and poverty and follows the nobleman to Italy. The end is tragic as fate becomes the angel of retribution and we witness the wife return as a poor and bedraggled creature, bereft of all her former glory and beauty. The story ends with this statement by the artist that sums up the story's essence:
My music is beautiful, but when music passes from sensation to idea, it can have listeners only among people of genius, for they alone have the power to develop its meaning. My misfortune comes from listening to the music of angels and from believing that human beings could understand it. The same is true of women when their love assumes divine forms—men no longer understand them.
In both these stories the lengthy discourses into the nature of art and music, and the occasional diatribes are carried to excesses which I find boring and detracting. Indeed both the stories, though crafted in Balzac's inimitable insight and psychological realism, could have been done with much less.
The other story Gambara is certainly odd as it recounts the tale of a self-obsessed music composer who flies into delirious dreams of musical perfection in his state of inebriation, and who recounts the creation and objectives of his three completed works to a scheming Milanese count infatuated with his young wife. The count's sole objective is to expose the flaws of his intoxicated character when he invites the composer and his wife to a banquet. In between draughts of wine the artist flies into a high-flown and lengthy discourse into the ideas of musical composition which he expounds before the count. This ends when the composer falls down unconscious in his wife's arms, thus exposing him. The wife, who is already quite taken with the count, leaves her husband in squalor and poverty and follows the nobleman to Italy. The end is tragic as fate becomes the angel of retribution and we witness the wife return as a poor and bedraggled creature, bereft of all her former glory and beauty. The story ends with this statement by the artist that sums up the story's essence:
My music is beautiful, but when music passes from sensation to idea, it can have listeners only among people of genius, for they alone have the power to develop its meaning. My misfortune comes from listening to the music of angels and from believing that human beings could understand it. The same is true of women when their love assumes divine forms—men no longer understand them.
In both these stories the lengthy discourses into the nature of art and music, and the occasional diatribes are carried to excesses which I find boring and detracting. Indeed both the stories, though crafted in Balzac's inimitable insight and psychological realism, could have been done with much less.
August 2, 2013
This is a short story concerning art, obsession, 'unclothed emperors' and madness. It was originally published in a newspaper for artists entitled L'Artiste in 1831.
A young artist by the name of Poussin visits the studio of a great painter named Porbus. Whilst there the master painter Frenhofer is critiquing Porbus's work and reveals that he is in possession of an even greater masterpiece. The two men are intrigued and events begin to unravel from there
Many artists admired Balzac, Van Gogh was an avid reader. Picasso was asked to illustrate a later edition. He was so intrigued by the story that he moved to the street where the fictional master Frenhofer's studio was supposedly located. It was in this studio that he painted 'Guernica'.
This is a classic. It speaks to the artist of today, the personal investment in the artistic vision and the hubristic nature of such an investment. The edition I read was courtesy of project gutenberg.
A young artist by the name of Poussin visits the studio of a great painter named Porbus. Whilst there the master painter Frenhofer is critiquing Porbus's work and reveals that he is in possession of an even greater masterpiece. The two men are intrigued and events begin to unravel from there
Many artists admired Balzac, Van Gogh was an avid reader. Picasso was asked to illustrate a later edition. He was so intrigued by the story that he moved to the street where the fictional master Frenhofer's studio was supposedly located. It was in this studio that he painted 'Guernica'.
This is a classic. It speaks to the artist of today, the personal investment in the artistic vision and the hubristic nature of such an investment. The edition I read was courtesy of project gutenberg.
January 18, 2021
This is a must-read if you appreciate art. You'll love it! ❤️
English: https://elifthereader.com/books/the-u...
Türkçe: https://kitaplikkedisi.com/kitaplar/g...
English: https://elifthereader.com/books/the-u...
Türkçe: https://kitaplikkedisi.com/kitaplar/g...
June 23, 2017
honoré de ballsack, truly.
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February 19, 2024Stories that revolve around painters never disappoint me.
December 22, 2023
★★★★☆ for Unknown Masterpiece. For how short it is, this should be on your short list of essential reading about art next to Dorian Gray, etc.
★★☆☆☆ for Gambara. Interesting premise. Opera music theory was a bit over my head.
★★☆☆☆ for Gambara. Interesting premise. Opera music theory was a bit over my head.
February 27, 2023
Somehow too pretentious in some aspects and not pretentious enough in others for me .
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