2024-01-23 04:23:47
This year, 2024, the annual anniversaries seem to be appearing in large cohorts. In contrast to greats like Puccini, Bruckner or Kant, James Ensor, whose death marks the 75th anniversary of April 13th, is still relatively unknown in Austria. The reputation of what is arguably the greatest Flemish painter of the 20th century has not yet spread too far beyond the borders of Belgium. A lavish anniversary year is regarding to change that.
His home country extensively celebrates the master of the grotesque, masks and skulls. Ultimately, the use of masks and carnivalesque elements in an expressionistic color gesture has become Ensor’s trademark. Domestic scenes and socio-political panoramas are stylistically removed and deeper truths are revealed by covering the faces. Throughout his life, Ensor did not stop at his own face and distorted his face into a skull in countless self-portraits. Ensor placed himself in an art historical tradition that was inspired by other masters of the grotesque such as Goya and Bosch. Harsh, almost caricature-like criticism of authorities such as the monarchy and Japanese influences can also be found in the painter’s oeuvre.
“When you see Ensor, you think he’s a gentleman. But he was very interested in the popular, even the vulgar,” says Xavier Tricot, one of the leading experts on the master who worked as a curator at the Ensor House in Ostend. After all, the Flemish coastal seaside resort where Ensor was born on April 13, 1860, the son of a British father and a Belgian mother, was the painter prince’s place of residence and work and, last but not least, his stage, which he played with an elegant, striking appearance until he was there died on November 19, 1949. “Ensor loved Ostend as a mystical place where light had immense meaning,” Tricot makes clear.
And Ostend loves its Ensor. So it is not surprising that the seaside resort with a good 70,000 inhabitants is the epicenter during the first months of the anniversary year, before Antwerp takes over. An Ensor city festival offers more than 100 activities spread throughout the year – from the Ensor menu to smaller exhibitions. Not all of Ensor’s places of life are still there, such as his mother’s former souvenir shop with numerous masks and other exotic items, which was an important source of inspiration for the later painter. And yet you can follow in the footsteps of the anniversary in Ostend using an app.
At the site of the last residential building, the Ensor Center invites art lovers with all sorts of multimedia ideas and Ensor’s apartment. The self-portraits are on display in the museum from March 21st to June 16th, before the exhibition “Ensor’s Imaginary Paradise” is dedicated to the anniversary’s relationship to Ostend from June 29th. The series of appreciations will conclude here from September 19th with the show “Satire, Parody, Pastiche” on the satirical aspects of Ensor’s oeuvre. And the exhibition is running until April 14th in the neighboring museum for modern art Mu.ZEE, which is entitled “Rose, Rose à mes yeux!” Ensor’s still life contrasts with around 100 works.
With the beginning of autumn, the Flemish metropolis of Antwerp also joins in the celebrations. “In your wildest dreams” starts here on September 28th in the Royal Academy of Fine Arts (KMSKA), which has the largest Ensor collection in the world and the show approaches the influence of Impressionism on Ensor. At the same time, the fashion museum is dedicated to the question of masquerade and make-up under the title “Metamorfosis Ensor”, while in the photo museum you can experience Cindy Sherman and James Ensor in pair skating in the show “Anti-Fashion”. And finally, the Plantin Moretus printing museum in Antwerp will also be taking part, which will be dedicated to “James Ensor’s Search for Light” from September 28th.
With so much celebration in the Flemish part of Belgium, the capital doesn’t want to be left behind, as Ensor left behind a body of work with 850 paintings over the course of his life that provides enough material for numerous events. On February 22nd, the Palais Lorraine starts the dance with “James Ensor: A Genius in Brussels”, before on February 29th at the Bozar Cultural Center “James Ensor, Maestro” honors the year’s anniversary’s wide-ranging artistic activity as a composer and author.
(S E R V I C E – www.ensorhuis.be/de)
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