James Ensor
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James Sidney Ensor, Baron Ensor (April 13, 1860–November 19, 1949), was a Belgian painter whose unique portrayals of grotesque humanity made him a principal precursor of 20th-century expressionism and surrealism.
Life
Ensor was born in Ostend, Belgium, in 1860, and — except for three years spent at the Brussels Academy, from 1877 to 1880 — he lived in Ostend all his life. His early works were of traditional subjects: landscapes, still lifes, portraits, and interiors painted in deep, rich colors and enriched by a subdued but vibrant light, as in the Russian Music of 1881 (Collection Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts de Belgique, Brussels). In the mid-1880s, influenced by the bright color of the Impressionists and the grotesque imagery of earlier Flemish Primitives such as Hieronymus Bosch and Pieter Bruegel the Elder, Ensor turned toward avant-garde themes and styles. He took his subject matter principally from Ostend's holiday crowds, which filled him with revulsion and disgust. Portraying individuals as clowns or skeletons or replacing their faces with carnival masks, he represented humanity as stupid, smirking, vain, and loathsome. Outstanding in this vein is his immense canvas Christ's Entry Into Brussels in 1889 (1888, J. Paul Getty Center, Los Angeles, California). Image:James Ensor.buste.jpg Ensor deliberately used harsh, garish colors and violent, broken brushstrokes to heighten the violent effect of his subjects. His work had an important influence on 20th-century painting, his lurid subject matter paving the way for surrealism and Dada, and his techniques — particularly his brushwork and his sense of color — leading directly to expressionism. Ensor also produced a significant body of etchings, ranging from sensitive landscapes to fantastic scenes teeming with buffoonish and sinister figures.
Ensor's period of innovation ended in the mid-1890s, and while he continued painting until nearly the end of his life, his later works repeat familiar themes, often replicating earlier compositions. The work of his last decades is characterized by very bright coloration. He died in 1949 in Ostend, where there is now a museum devoted to his work.
Ensor's Influence
Ensor influenced a number of the artists of the German Expressionist movement in the World War I years until the mid 1920s, artists such as George Grosz, Max Beckmann and Ernst Ludwig Kirchner. His connection to Expressionism showed influence again in the late 1970s to the mid-1980s when Neo-Expressionism, a titled often used to descibe the work of Julian Schnabel, David Salle, Jean-Michel Basquiat and Francesco Clemente, became a prominent art movement among art collectors, gallarists, museums and curators.
In 1995, the state of Belgium recognized Ensor's achievements by dedicating the 100-franc (~ 2.5 EUR) bill to him and his work. However, as of 2002 the bill is no longer available as the Euro replaced the Belgian franc.
Ensor was celebrated by the American band They Might Be Giants in the song "Meet James Ensor", on their 1994 album, John Henry.
See also
de:James Ensor es:James Ensor fr:James Ensor it:James Ensor nl:James Ensor ja:ジェームズ・アンソール pt:James Ensor sv:James Ensor