ENSOR, James

Masks are James Ensor’s trademark. From 1880 onwards, they appear regularly in his paintings and drawings. The same ones, in many cases, and often even in the identical position. In almost each case, they are carnival masks that his mother sold in her souvenir shop. Several of them can be seen in old photographs of Ensor in his studio. He might have posed models using masks and costumes.

Some of the masks have survived. They now belong to the Ensor House museum in Ostend and to private collections. Ensor wrote of his masks in Les Ecrits de James Ensor: ‘Hounded by imitators, I have retreated to the lonely land of mockery, where reigns the mask, full of violence, light and brilliance. The mask says to me: fresh tones, a sumptuous d�cor, broad unexpected gestures, intense, exquisite turbulence.’

James Ensor took on religion, politics, and art in this scene of Christ entering contemporary Brussels in a Mardi Gras parade. In response to the French pointillist style, Ensor used palette knives, spatulas, and both ends of his brush to put down patches of colours with expressive freedom.

Ensor’s society is a mob, threatening to trample the viewer - a crude, ugly, chaotic, dehumanized sea of masks, frauds, clowns, and caricatures. Public, historical, and allegorical figures, along with the artist’s family and friends, make up the crowd. The haloed Christ at the centre of the turbulence is in part a self-portrait: mostly ignored, a precarious, isolated visionary amidst the herdlike masses of modern society. Ensor’s Christ functions as a political spokesman for the poor and oppressed - a humble leader of the true religion, in opposition to the atheist social reformer Emile Littr�, shown in bishop’s garb holding a drum major’s baton and leading on the eager, mindless crowd.

Above the crowd is a political banner bearing the legend Vive la Sociale (‘Long live the Welfare State’); the implication is that Christ’s message, like Ensor’s, is not being heeded. Parody becomes a nightmare when one notices, lurking among the masks on the left foreground, the figure of Death in a top hat. After rejection by Les XX, the artists’ association that Ensor had helped to found, the painting was not exhibited publicly until 1929. Ensor displayed Christ’s Entry prominently in his home and studio throughout his life. With its aggressive, painterly style and merging of the public with the deeply personal, Christ’s Entry was a forerunner of twentieth-century Expressionism.

The painting is signed and dated lower right, beneath the elevated platform: “J. ENSOR / 1888”.

The model for the painting was the hairdresser of the artist’s mother.

Masks are James Ensor’s trademark. From 1880 onwards, they appear regularly in his paintings and drawings. The same ones, in many cases, and often even in the identical position. In almost each case, they are carnival masks that his mother sold in her souvenir shop. Several of them can be seen in old photographs of Ensor in his studio. He might have posed models using masks and costumes.

Some of the masks have survived. They now belong to the Ensor House museum in Ostend and to private collections. Ensor wrote of his masks in Les Ecrits de James Ensor: ‘Hounded by imitators, I have retreated to the lonely land of mockery, where reigns the mask, full of violence, light and brilliance. The mask says to me: fresh tones, a sumptuous d�cor, broad unexpected gestures, intense, exquisite turbulence.’

Symbolism evolved alongside with Impressionism. Ensor was one of the major Belgian Symbolists, and he started out in Impressionism as shown by the present painting. From here he moved on to carnival scenes, ghosts, monsters, and the masks for which he is famous.

Ensor’s Intrigue is certainly intriguing. A woman has got her man. She presents her ‘conquest’ with a gesture of her hand. In her other hand, she holds a small bouquet. Are they married? Perhaps. Grotesquely comical, sinister faces surround the couple. A coarse-faced woman carries a doll on her shoulder. Or is it a dead child? She points to the man - his fate is uncertain. A skull with a loose jawbone observes the scene. Intense, aggressive colour contrasts and rough, nervous brushstrokes intensify the ugly atmosphere.

The Intrigue is one of the finest masquerades in James Ensor’s entire oeuvre. Masks customarily hide the true face of their wearers. In Ensor, they function in precisely the opposite way. From 1880 onwards, the ‘peintre des masques’ used these disguises to reveal the inner malice of his characters in scenes that are bizarre and grotesque. Some art historians have interpreted this work as Ensor’s personal vision of marriage. The bride has captured the groom. There’s nowhere for the poor man to go.

Masks offered James Ensor new expressive possibilities. You only have to look at the abrupt colour transitions in The Intrigue. The aggressive contrasts of unmixed colours are equally striking. Ensor allows light and colour to blend into one another, a technique he learned from the French Impressionists. They used pure colours on the white ground of the canvas, without the traditional underpainting, and with as few shadows as possible.

This painting can be considered as a festive homage to the good life. At the end of the 19th century, this work was viewed as immoral. A young city woman sitting comfortably to enjoy the good things in life (oysters and fine wines) was found to be inappropriate. Originally this work was also rejected at a number of exhibitions, more progressive circles (e.g. Les XX), however, saw the value of the painting.

The subject was also treated in seventeenth-century Flemish painting, e.g. by Jan Steen; when oysters were linked, by association, to love, sex, and fertility.

One of Ensor’s earliest fantastical paintings, this work recreates the familiar story of St Anthony battling a world of temptations (embodied by the woman at the far left). Ensor described his version of the narrative as one in which “the bizarre prevails” as Hell expels menacing sea creatures and grotesque monsters haphazardly joined together within a colourful, loosely rendered landscape.

Inspired by earlier renditions of the story by Flemish artists Hieronymus Bosch and Pieter Bruegel the Elder, Ensor brought a fresh interpretation to a familiar subject by combining invented figures with wild brushstrokes and audacious colour choices.

Today’s art experts can’t praise Ensor’s work enough. But it wasn’t always that way. He was long misunderstood and sold very little. Only in his forties did Ensor receive recognition. German artists and critics began to notice his artistic innovations around 1900. And in Belgium, too, he gradually came to be recognized as one of the pioneers of modern art. The world’s largest and most important James Ensor collection is owned by the Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten in Antwerp.