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Melville Holmes ( b . 1950 , San Francisco ) describes himself as a “ progressive traditionalist .” Best known for his color and design work on the renovation of the Davenport Hotel ( 2000-2002 ), the choice of Holmes to oversee the hotel ’ s decor was serendipitous . The renovation required a decor consultant with historic sensibilities and the skills to work with modern tradesmen to infuse the Davenport ’ s signature appeal with new life .
While he was still an art major in 1972 , an experience in the Rembrandt Room at the museum inspired him to recover Old Master techniques as a living , generative language of expression . He later described that encounter :
“ I saw a rich matrix of paint applied with consummate technical understanding , within which was an image of such existential human nobility that it seemed to transcend the artist ’ s age and mine . It was a kind of epiphany , proof of quintessential artistic virtue , demonstrating that it is possible for a painted image to reach across the centuries to touch one ’ s essential humanity . To accomplish something of this in my own generation , even if only in a small way , became my goal .”
During the 20th century , however , the prevailing attitude in the art world considered traditional art obsolete . “ Not for our time ,” was the mantra . Holmes was not trying to exhume a fashion that had exhausted itself , though , but craftsmanship and sensibilities he saw as timeless . But by the end of the 18th century artists didn ’ t know how the Old Masters painted because they had not been trained in the same way . Advice in artist ’ s manuals largely speculated on how they achieved their fluid textural and luminous effects .
Since there was nothing for it but to teach himself , Holmes would take two extensive trips to Europe to study masterworks first hand . He developed a technique using many layers of transparent and opaque colors , but in the mid ‘ 80s faced a crisis . His trusted Copal painting medium was discontinued and nothing was working . It was at this juncture that he embarked on an exhaustive study of the historical , technical , and scientific literature on painting materials , and much correspondence with conservators and scientists who worked on and studied the paintings that inspired him . He acquired Congo copal resin and laboratory equipment to formulate his own oil / varnish media and began making paint from scratch . In 1999 his research paper , “ Amber Varnish and the Techniques of the Gentileschi ,” was published as an appendix to Artemisia Gentileschi and the Authority of Art ; Critical Reading and Catalogue Raisonné by R . Ward Bissell , establishing Holmes as an authority on the topic of natural resin varnishes in historical paint media .
In 1998 , Seattle ’ s Frye Art Museum exhibited his work in the one-man show , “ Old Master Dialogues .” His subjects typically include still life , figures , landscape , and architectural pieces
Though primarily a fine artist , Holmes has lent his hand to such varied decorative and restoration projects as designing the back bar at the Post Street Alehouse , repairing the ornamental terracotta on Spokane ’ s Great Western building , statuary repair for St . Aloysius Parish , and creating unique decorative interior and exterior finishes for the Riverview Corporate Center . Other interests include urban beautification , historic preservation , interior decor , the history of costume , classical music , and boating .
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