James Ensor

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Henry de Groux : James Ensor (1907)

James Sidney Ensor (born April 13, 1860 in Ostend ; † November 19, 1949 there ) was a Belgian painter and draftsman who, in addition to paintings, also created a variety of etchings and drypoint works . Ensor can be assigned to symbolism and is also regarded as a forerunner of expressionism . But he became known as the "painter of masks ".

Life

James Ensor Museum , Vlanderstraat27, Ostend / Belgium
Grave in the dune cemetery in Ostend

The artist's father, James Frederic Ensor, was of English descent. He tried to make his fortune in America, failed and ended up as a well-known drunkard. The mother, Maria Catharina Haegheman, was Flemin and ran a small shop with gifts and carnival masks, which would later play a major role in Ensor's work.

He left school at the age of 15 and apprenticed to painters before attending the Academy of Fine Arts in Ostend in 1876. Ensor studied from 1877 to 1880 at the art academy in Brussels , where Fernand Khnopff was his classmate, but then broke off because, according to his own statement, he found copying the old masters not very creative. In 1880 he returned to Ostend, where he stayed for most of his life.

Ensor had its first exhibition in 1881. He reached the peak of his popularity in the late 1920s when several major exhibitions in Germany and Paris were dedicated to him. In 1929 he received the title of baron from King Albert.

His grave is in the dune cemetery in Ostend.

power

Ensor and masks on the last Belgian 100 franc banknote

Ensor was initially influenced for a short time by Impressionism and the works of William Turner .

His work can be roughly divided into three phases:

  • The early days, when he was mainly active as a caricaturist , draftsman and eraser,
  • the middle phase, from which his main works originate (such as his most famous painting, the monumental painting of Christ Entry into Brussels (1888), which hangs today in the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles ),
  • and the expressionist-oriented late work.

As early as 1883, the focus of his work was on fantastic visions with demons , skeletons and, above all, masks, which, among other things, put him in the tradition of Hieronymus Bosch . Ensor is considered to be the most important representative of Belgian symbolism. The Kunsthalle Mannheim is dedicating a special exhibition to him from March 5 to July 4, 2021.

Works

  • Skeleton, looking at chinoiserie. Wallraf-Richartz-Museum, Cologne 1885.
  • Christ's entry into Brussels. J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles 1888.
  • Still life in the studio. Oil on canvas, 83 × 113.5 cm. New Pinakothek, Munich 1889.
  • Fantastic still life. Oil on wood. Austrian Gallery Belvedere, Vienna around 1917.

literature

  • Meinrad Maria Grewenig , Roland Augustin, Anne-Marie Werner: James Ensor. Dying for immortality; Masterpieces of graphics . Wunderhorn, Heidelberg 2011, ISBN 978-3-88423-395-5 (catalog on the occasion of the James Ensor exhibition in the Saarland Museum Saarbrücken).
  • Anna Swinbourne (Ed.): James Ensor. Museum of Modern Art, New York 2009, ISBN 978-0-87070-752-0 (exhibition catalog for the exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art , New York then in Paris, Musée d'Orsay ).
  • Ina Dinter: "My Huris". James Ensor's intoxicating vision as a late contribution to oriental painting . In: Expressionismus, vol. 5, 2019, issue 9.

Continuing effect

James Ensor (2013) by the Belgian painter Willy Bosschem
  • James Ensor Suite . 1929, composition by Flor Alpaerts , 1929.
  • James Ensor . Bust of Edmond De Valeriola in Ostend, 1930.
  • In Ensor's hometown of Ostend, the James Ensor House is a reminder of the artist. He lived and worked in the building from 1917 until his death in 1949. It was renovated in 1973 and has been a museum of fine arts since 1974.
  • His works were exhibited at documenta III in Kassel in 1964 and also at documenta IX in 1992.
  • James Ensor postage stamp . Belgium 1975.
  • In Thomas Bernhard's play Minetti (1976), the actor reports that he played Lear in a mask created by Ensor.
  • Meet James Ensor . Pop song by the group They Might Be Giants on the album John Henry , 1994.
  • Ensor's work appears in many forms in the novel Desire for Music and Mountains, set in Ostend . Klett-Cott, Stuttgart 2004, ISBN 3-608-93571-1 by Brigitte Kronauer .

Web links

Commons : James Ensor  - collection of images, videos and audio files
personal data
SURNAME Ensor, James
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Ensor, James Sidney (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Belgian painter and draftsman
DATE OF BIRTH April 13, 1860
PLACE OF BIRTH Ostend , Belgium
DATE OF DEATH November 19, 1949
Place of death Ostend , Belgium