James Ensor biography

JAMES ENSOR
James Ensor was born in Ostend, Belgium on Friday, April 13, 1860. His parents were both Belgian, and he owned a curio shop, from which he acquired many ideas for paintings. During carnivals at Ostend, masks were also on sale there, and Ensor never forgot them. He later wrote how he felt about his childhood at the shop: "I was even more fascinated by our dark and frightening attic, full of horrible spiders, curios, seashells, plants and animals from distant seas, beautiful chinaware, rust and blood-colored effects, red and white coral, monkeys, turtles, dried mermaids and stuffed Chinamen."
Ensor began painting when he was sixteen, mostly of shore landscapes at his seaside town. In 1877, he went to the Academie Royale des Beaux-Arts in Brussels, Belgium. He was bored by the formal teachings there, and did things to demonstrate his independence. One of these was this incident: "I was told to paint the bust of Octavius, the most august of the Roman emperors, from a brand-new plaster cast. The snow-white plaster made my flesh creep. I turned it into bright pink goose-flesh and made the hair red horrifying the other students, and their initial alarm was followed by cat-calls, grins, and punches. The teachers were so taken aback by my impudence that they did not dwell on the fact and from then on I painted freely from living models." He strongly disliked the art academy, and complained of never being to do his own art experiments. Later, he said this of his school, "In 1880, I emerged unceremoniously from that place full of short sighted creatures, already saturated with antiques, satiated [stuffed], lashed by the compliments rapped out by my foul mouthed teachers."
It was apparent, even then, that Ensor had much skill as a painter. His first paintings, which were slightly influenced by impressionism, were rejected by the salons because they portrayed subjects too realistically. All these early paintings were of an overall dark tone. In 1884, he began painting with brighter colors, as is apparent in The Entry of Christ into Brussels and Skeleton Painter in his Atelier. This same year he helped form Les XX, or The Twenty, a group of radical Belgian artists. After this time, Ensor's paintings grew more bizarre and stayed that way throughout his career. These strange and often times grotesque paintings are what he is mainly associated with today.

During this time, he was influenced by the nightmarish art of the earlier Flemish artists Hieronymus Bosch and Pieter Bruegel. During this time, he also etched his best engraving, The Cathedral. In 1889, Ensor painted his masterpiece, The Entrance of Christ into Brussels. This immense 8 1/2 by 12 1/2 foot painting showed incredible detail and might have taken a less energetic artist well over a year to complete. However, it created a outraged the public and was not displayed until much later in 1919. The people felt it was blasphemous to show Christ so powerless, as Ensor had done. The Twenty, as well, refused to display this work and almost forced Ensor to resign from their group. This view of Ensor quickly changed, and by 1982 he was known as a master throughout Europe. This period of his painting, from 1885 to 1900, is referred to as post-impressionism. In 1896, Ensor's paintings were shown by themselves for the first time. Though he was commended by many critics, much of the public disliked his disregard for traditional rules of form and color. The symbolic topics and use of free, wiry lines combined with bold color appealed to the upper classes of Europe. These paintings later influenced German expressionist painters. After 1900, Ensor became a less aggressive artist and produced few notable works. Most of the paintings were similar to, or even the same as, his earlier art. However, these later versions were usually less vivid and detailed than the originals. In 1929, Ensor had finally achieved international fame, and exhibitions with his work were shown in various cities, most significantly Antwerp, Paris, Brussels, and New York. In 1929 Ensor was also made a baron by King Albert I of Belgium. In 1949, Ensor died at the age of 89. UP


James Ensor was first a painter, and secondly an etcher, or in other words, an artist. His art was a forerunner of both expressionism and surrealism. He was especially intent on death and hypocrisy. Many of his paintings show skeletons and demons, symbolizing hopelessness and spiritual decay. For example, in Skeletons Trying to Warm Themselves, painted in 1889, Ensor shows some skeletons' futile efforts to try to regain the light of life. Masks and Death, painted in 1897, shows a skull surrounded by masks, with demons overhead. The drawing Artist Decomposed shows himself as a skeleton, showing his fascination with death. The etching Triumph of Death, made in 1896, shows skeletons and demons with scythes flying freely above the city of Brussels, wreaking havoc on the frightened people below.

He also painted controversial subjects, such as The Entry of Christ into Brussels. This shows even Christ powerless against the many masked figures who surround him, who symbolize deceit. Jesus is in the center of the picture sitting on a donkey, and the swarms of people pay no attention to him. The read banner says "Vive la Sociale," meaning "long live the socialist state." This painting was considered sacrilegious because it showed Christ powerless against the atrocities of man, which was unforgivable to many people in 1886, when it was painted. Ensor felt rejected by others and society, and many of his paintings reflect this. His constant use of the mask showed how he felt others were full of deception. The painting Self-Portrait Surrounded by Masks, produced in 1899, displays the artist's head surrounded by a sea of various masks. The masks represent falseness and deception, and it became one of his primary symbols. Throughout his life he was mostly in isolation, and the masks are in many of his paintings, whether on people, or standing alone. The similar painting Old Woman With Masks shows an old woman surrounded by masks. She is blissfully unaware of the treachery around her, displaying Ensor's distrust of society. Angriness at critics is shown is 1890's Ensor and General Leman Discussing Painting. The General, whom with Ensor had frequent quarrels about art, is pointing a gun at Ensor. Ensor, on the other hand, is armed with a palette and is pointing a brush at Leman. Ensor's most lasting influences would certainly have to be the steps he took towards expressionism and surrealism. At his time, he was as an "advanced" a painter as Vincent Van Gogh, a fellow member of The Twenty, but a less controversial one. Though he painted many landscapes and still lifes, none of these are as well known as his bizarre and grotesque works with masks and demons. At his time, people disliked him not because of the strange paintings but because he refused to follow traditional rules of form and color. Today, Ensor is virtually unknown outside of Belgium. This is mostly because the Belgian government has kept most of his work inside Belgium, with very little of it going to foreign museums. UP


This timeline has events from his life and others going on in the world at the same time.

1860
Ensor is born
Italian unification is completed

1862
Battle between the Monitor and Merrimac

1867
Dual monarchy of Austria-Hungary is formed

1871
Great Chicago fire

1873
Ensor takes drawing lessons

1877
Ensor studies at the Acadmie Royale des Beaux-Arts in Brussels

1880
Ensor leaves the academy

1884
Ensor forms "The Twenty"

1886
Ensor etches The Cathedral
Statue of Liberty is erected

1888
Ensor paints The Entry of Christ into Brussels

1891
Ensor paints Two Skeletons Fighting Over the Body of a Hanged Man

1896
Ensor has his first solo art exhibition

1899
Ensor paints Self-Portrait Surrounded by Masks

1900
Ensor's works become largely repetitive

1914
World War I starts

1924
Stalin's rule begins

1929
Ensor is awarded a baronetcy by King Albert I of Belgium
US Great Depression begins

1933
Hitler becomes chancellor of Germany

1939
World War II starts

1945
United Nations is founded

1949
Ensor dies at 89
NATO is formed.