James Ensor
Biografie1860 - 1949
Uber den Künstler
James, Baron Ensor, in full James Sidney, Baron Ensor (April 13, 1860, Ostend, Belgium—November 19, 1949, Ostend) was a Belgian painter and printmaker.
His works are known for their bizarre fantasy and sardonic social commentary. By the time he was 20 years old, Ensor was an acknowledged master. Initially inspired by the art of Rembrandt and Peter Paul Rubens, he began to develop the viv After a youthful infatuation with the art of Rembrandt and Peter Paul Rubens, he adopted the animated brushstroke of the French Impressionists. After Ensor’s work was rejected by the Brussels Salon in 1883, he became a member of progressive artists called Les Vingt (The Twenty). In this period he began to portray images of grotesques fantasy: skeletons, phantoms, and hideous masks.
Ensor’s interest in masks probably began in his mother’s curio shop. His Entry of Christ into Brussels (1888), filled with carnival masks painted in smeared, garish colours, provoked such outrage that he was expelled from Les Vingt. However, Ensor carried on with painting nightmarish visions like Masks (Intrigues) (1890) and Skeletons Fighting for the Body of a Hanged Man (1891). As criticism of his work became more abusive, the artist became more cynical and misanthropic, a state of mind given frightening expression in his Portrait of the Artist Surrounded by Masks. He finally became a recluse and was seldom seen in public. After 1900 Ensor’s art underwent little change. When, in 1929, his Entry of Christ into Brussels was exhibited publicly for the first time, King Albert of Belgium conferred a barony on him.
His works are known for their bizarre fantasy and sardonic social commentary. By the time he was 20 years old, Ensor was an acknowledged master. Initially inspired by the art of Rembrandt and Peter Paul Rubens, he began to develop the viv After a youthful infatuation with the art of Rembrandt and Peter Paul Rubens, he adopted the animated brushstroke of the French Impressionists. After Ensor’s work was rejected by the Brussels Salon in 1883, he became a member of progressive artists called Les Vingt (The Twenty). In this period he began to portray images of grotesques fantasy: skeletons, phantoms, and hideous masks.
Ensor’s interest in masks probably began in his mother’s curio shop. His Entry of Christ into Brussels (1888), filled with carnival masks painted in smeared, garish colours, provoked such outrage that he was expelled from Les Vingt. However, Ensor carried on with painting nightmarish visions like Masks (Intrigues) (1890) and Skeletons Fighting for the Body of a Hanged Man (1891). As criticism of his work became more abusive, the artist became more cynical and misanthropic, a state of mind given frightening expression in his Portrait of the Artist Surrounded by Masks. He finally became a recluse and was seldom seen in public. After 1900 Ensor’s art underwent little change. When, in 1929, his Entry of Christ into Brussels was exhibited publicly for the first time, King Albert of Belgium conferred a barony on him.
