Customer Reviews

The Unknown Masterpiece

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3 star:		(2)
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1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is such a strange short story by Balzac. The premise is simple: An aging Parisian artist is obsessed over a single painting which he has been working on for years. When his friends finally get to see the work, they see nothing. This is the riddle of the story: what's in the painting? Also, what is this story about? Is it a parable of art or beauty or obsession? It's interesting painters and artists were taken by this story. It speaks of the heart of darkness that is modern art. Kudos for NYRB on this new translation by Richard Howard. The question remains whether we'll be seeing new or revised translations of Balzac's other works.

At first glance "The Unknown Masterpiece" and "Gambarra" are dissimilar tales about a painter and a composer. Yet they share in common the main protagonist's struggle to make a masterpiece; the finest painting and opera ever conceived. Unfortunately in "The Unknown Masterpiece" the painter Frenhofer is so dissatisfied with his work that he paints it anew, and it is seen by his friends, with disastrous consequences for all. In "Gambarra" the composer of the same name struggles to finish an opera on the early history of Islam, which he promises will be more glorious than any by Mozart. Such lofty ambitions remain unrealized, leaving the composer impoverished. Without question two of the greatest tales ever written by Balzac, influencing generations of painters, writers and other artists.

It's amazing that the author was able to create an essay on 20th century abstract art in 1834. But this story is much more than that. It is a commentary on the parallels between art and human psychology, and the unreality of both... also, a character study, a mystery, an allegorical tale... all within 40 pages. In keeping with its theme, The Unknown Masterpiece is, on the other hand, none of those things. In keeping with its title... at least in this country.

Who among us doesn't have their own 'great unfinished work?' How many of us have wanted to do something that was greater than ourselves? How many of us want to put something out there not only into the current public forum, but into the historical forum as well? Something, perhaps a work of art not only for the 'now,' but for posterity, too?

I do. And certainly most of my friends, if they're being honest, do, too. It stands to reason that although the idea and the drive may be there, most will never accomplish the masterpiece that eludes them.

And although we try, what we produce is often so devilishly poor in quality that, sickened, we tear it up, or painted over it, or erase the recording vowing to never again attempt something so foolish. Yet, a few days pass, and there we are, attempting. Tempting.

So we lie. We lie to ourselves and we lie to our friends. We convince everyone that what we have in store is beyond measure. Beyond perfect. Not just life changing, but culture changing. And if this continues long enough, we tend to believe it. Egging on our ego, building ourselves and our work or our talent up to the point the it transcends the ability of humans and must have be a work of pure divinity. Creating our own legend. Perpetuating our own myth.

But alas, our ability is simply human. And as a result, the work we produce, while perhaps divine in inspiration, is always human in ability. And as it is human, it is, as we are, fallible.

This book could be about art. It could be about the fear of opening ourselves up to the judgment of others. I think it is about being human.

Balzac's The Unknown Masterpiece is not about abstract art! It is about the destructive power of obsession for perfection. The artist Frenhofer over-paints and touches-up his masterpiece until it is not recognizable as anything but a mess. Balzac's Gambarra was too wordy but it does have the interesting theme of an artist, totally consumed by his personal vision, and thus not able to recognize the sacrifices and motivations of those around him. He writes an opera about the beginnings of Islam and the sacrifice of a woman for the man she loves. Yet Gambarra can not see this same pattern being played out with his wife and thus his single minded vision destroys his marriage. He is both a genius and a fool. His atonal compositions were 100 years before their time. His inability to empathize and get out of his own visions results in his wife's running off with an Italian count who plots to steal Gambarra's wife after he sees the composer's Achille's heel. I don't think I would recommend these books to anyone but artists. They reveal the artistic feet of clay which we so often overlook.

Brilliantly translated by Richard Howard, these two unknown tales by the master novelist, Balzac, concern the process and wonder of creation in both art and music. If you've read any of the great works of fiction---"Lost Illusions", "Père Goriot", "Cousin Bette", "Eugenie Grandet" or even "Colonel Chabert"---you will find these stories thin and pale, not up to the magnificent standard set by the others. That is, if you expect to find a similar direction. Balzac had set himself an immense task. That was to portray the whole of French life in his times in a series of novels and stories. "The Unknown Masterpiece", the first of two stories in this book, concerns art. Though there is a slight, rather weird, plot with three characters, and it smacks more than a little of Andersen's story "The Emperor's New Clothes", I felt that Balzac wrote it as a showcase for his opinions on art. Real artists, `Mabuse" (the pseudonym of a Flemish artist) and Nicolas Poussin, appear on the pages, but there are long lectures on the nature, power, and importance of art. It seems this story influenced Picasso many decades later, but in my opinion it will not appeal much to most modern readers. If you are interested to read Balzac's opinions about art, or are a person who thinks about the process of creativity, I admit that this will be a five star story for you.

The second tale, Gambara, concerns a humble Italian musician living in Paris. "My music's goal is to offer a representation of the life of nations conceived from the loftiest perspective," he says as he plans his great opera on the life of Muhammad. (If he had done this today, somebody would probably have killed him.) He talks learnedly, but his music is a jumble of noise unfathomable to listeners. A tragic tale of love at first sight, leading to a rich man's involvement with the composer [his beautiful wife of course], and a company of the Parisian poor, serves as a vehicle for Balzac's long expositions on music. In both stories he emphasizes the fragile nature of differences between good art/music and bad, the nature of genius, and the magic of inspiration. It may be true that many famous writers after Balzac drew on his writing to spark their own efforts to describe these things, but in many ways the stories resemble lectures more than literature.

The first short story [there are two in this book] is 22 pages filled with the challenges & conflicts faced by anyone who aspires to fame in the visual arts. The struggle is timeless. Readers should know beforehand that of the three artist only Frenhaufer is fictional -- Poussin & Porbus were actually living at the time of the action -- though Balzac changes their ages & -- for Porbus -- his status at that time. Fact & fiction are skillfully woven into an art form which has been utilized by so many writers. The introduction to the book gives a short history of that period in art history. Knowledge of Balzac's life experiences & writing habits adds greatly to the reader's appreciation.
In the second short story Balzac again tries to relate the struggles of artist -- though he uses the performing arts for his subject.
B. Joan Wragg

The effect of reading the two short works in this book is one of overhearing two snobbish and conceited intellectuals arguing about painting and music in a wanna-be hip cafe. Being that, The Unknown Masterpiece is not only annoying, it's boring. Set in Paris in 1612, a young unproven painter named Nicolas Poussin has come to the city to make a name for himself by studying under the great master Frenhofer. Frenhofer has been holed up in his studio for years working on his great masterwork, a portrait of a woman who he has disturbingly started referring to as his wife. The problem is that he hasn't found a suitable model for him to be able to finish the work. "Gambara", the novella that is also in this book, also concerns an artist that can never quite find the X-factor that would allow him to finish his work. Signor Gambara is a composer of music, whose grand operas come out as random noise to all those that listen, except when he's drunk, then his music turns beautiful, as if he can only communicate his divine music when his conscious mind is gone. A young playboy Count is meanwhile trying to steal Gambara's beautiful wife Marianna.

This book was awful and is a poor example of Balzac's genius. Even for his big fans like me. I don't know why Richard Howard even went to the trouble of translating this. Supposedly "Masterpiece" has had a profound effect on painters like Picasso who identified with the character Frenhofer. So what? It's just the same blithering romantic notion of capturing the unattainable that we've heard for centuries. "Gambara" is even worse. In a normal Balzac work, he would have focused on the characters of the Count and the Gambaras, but here he focuses on chord names and arguments and analyses of operas that I had to literally slog through with my eyes. If these had been longer pieces I would not have finished the book. Steer clear. It's a shame because probably only about 10% of Balzac's novels are available in English so why waste time printing this sub-minor work?

If you want to see Balzac's true genius, check out any of the Penguin editions of his works.

I wasn't quite able to get the full meaning of what the painter Frenhofer was trying to paint, but I can guess it was beautiful, and yet it turned out wrong. I guess I read too fast. Balzac was accurate in his names, though, with Pourbus, Mabuse, and Nicolas Poussin..................