James Ensor

by Anna Swinbourne, Susan M. Canning

James Ensor's painting of 1887, "The Temptation of St. Anthony," now in The Museum of Modern Art's collection, established the artist as one of the boldest painters of all his contemporaries. Ensor (1860-1949) was a major figure in the Belgian avant-garde of the late nineteenth century and an important precursor to the development of Expressionism in the early twentieth, yet his work is underappreciated in the United States, and far too little seen. This striking volume, published on the occasion of Ensor's major 2009 exhibition in New York, gives the artist the attention he so greatly deserves. It presents approximately 90 works, organized thematically, examining Ensor's Modernity, his innovative and allegorical approach to light, his prominent use of satire, his deep interest in carnival and performance and, finally, his own self-fashioning and use of masking, travesty and role-playing. Works in the full range of his media--painting, printing and drawing--are presented in an overlapping network of themes and images to produce a complete picture of this daring body of art. The most comprehensive volume on the artist available in English, this remarkable, scholarly volume reveals Ensor as a socially engaged and self-critical artist involved with the issues of his times and contemporary debates on the very nature of Modernism.

Genres: Art

208 pages, Hardcover

First published July 1, 2009

Reviews

[Bill · Rating 3 out of 5]

Given Ensor's greatness this should have been a great catalog. The reproductions are ridiculously small, however, and muddy as well. The essays are worthier, but still insufficient, with only passing references to the second of the artist's life and very little sense of the drivers of his creativity.

[Andypants · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lots of informative essays. I wish the reproductions were larger.

[Mcftdhorapusswrtrvocm · Rating 3 out of 5]

The essays were really informative about Ensor's general life, but also proposed interesting ideas about his work.