About the Artist

How it all began.

Robert Holmes was born in 1927 in Missouri. Growing up during the Great Depression gave him the fortitude to excel by letting his practical side guide him from survival to success. He was instinctively talented as a young man working with his father to build and design homes. Robert put himself through college, earning a degree in civil engineering from the University of Arizona. He achieved professional status far ahead of schedule. In the early 1950s, he moved to the San Francisco Bay Area and started Robert Holmes Construction, Design, and Development Company specializing in contemporary home design.

Most sculptors struggle to keep their artistic vision intact while negotiating the rough waters of science, industry, and marketing. Robert's formal, classical training in engineering proved the key to his success. Robert met Charles Feingarten, a world renown art critic and New York gallery owner who was responsible for introducing Rodin’s bronzes to America. Through Feingarten's encouragement, Robert began his foray into bronze and in New York his work was an immediate success. From early days as an unknown, Robert gradually gained national exposure and galleries from coast to coast sought to represent him.

With his prior experience in civil engineering, Robert understood the science of presentation. Long before CAD and computer graphic programs, Robert created exquisite scale model environments that integrated his sculpture. He communicated in a language developers, architects, and private collectors understood.

Robert’s knew how to add stability to his sculpture, make complex installations a breeze and meet a city’s specifications and code requirements. His credentials gave large firms the faith to allow Robert’s early stage involvement in many projects. Professional art consultants stated Holmes’ art expressed a nurturing, non-confrontational, and inviting quality that was perfect for public settings.

Robert's voyage converting ideas to bronze was trial by fire. He worked with a dozen foundries but was never fully satisfied with the experience. In 1989 Robert created his own fine arts foundry called Bronze Plus. Here he could finally control the process thus ensuring timely production and high quality standards.