Christ himself has interestingly been painted with the artist's own features, expressing his empathy with the biblical figure, purposefully representing himself as a martyr. Ensor specialist Susan M. Canning suggests that the symbolism included in the painting, elements such as distortion, exaggeration and the macabre, would have been easily identifiable to the 19th century viewer as indicators of the degeneracy of humanity within modern society. This chaotic spectacle takes the focus off the figure of Christ. This painting's light-hearted motifs represent a transition in Ensor's work from his "somber period" to his "light period;" the move from Realism to some form of whimsical reality. Individuals are illustrated masked in order to emphasize their superficiality in a carnival-like atmosphere - at the same time as a religious, serious event is supposedly depicted. The appearance of masks within early modern art increased around the turn of the century, as their ability as expressive tools was understood. Their negative responses to Ensor's artwork drove him to portray them in multiple satirical paintings. This is an incomplete list of the paintings by the Belgian painter James Ensor (1860–1949) Ensor admired the works of Francisco Goya and J. M. W. Turner, and felt a particular affinity with their preoccupations with both light and violence. Ensor's painting represents Anthony the Great of Egypt (c. 251-356) resisting the temptations of the devil. In this way his work shares the avant-garde impulse toward social, formal, and libidinal rebellion and anticipates many modern movements from Fauvism to Surrealism, and even Abstract Expressionism. View James Ensor’s 4,054 artworks on artnet. ©2020 The Art Story Foundation. Portrait of the Painter in a Flowered Hat represents Ensor in a three-quarter view, openly confronting the viewer's gaze. There is even a sense that the crowd is slightly tipped forward, ready to rush out at the viewer and engulf her at any moment. Find an in-depth biography, exhibitions, original artworks for sale, the latest news, and sold auction prices. Important Art by James Ensor Portrait of the Painter in a Flowered Hat (1883) Portrait of the Painter in a Flowered Hat represents Ensor in a three-quarter view, openly confronting the viewer's gaze. In his early years, Ensor was a founder and leader of Les Vingt (The Twenty), a group whose goal was to promote new artistic developments in Europe, though they later rejected his work as it became more radical and extreme in subject and method. In this image Death looks out at the viewer, actually confronting her with his gaze. His most famous work, Christ’s Entry into Brussels (1889), incorporated his trademark style and depictions of fairground masks to satirize contemporary religion and politics in Belgium. View James Ensor’s 4,055 artworks on artnet. The word herring in French, hareng-saur-close, if said with the proper pronunciation, apparently sounded like "art Ensor" or "Ensor's art." Colored pencils and scraping, with graphite, charcoal, pastel and water color, selectively fixed, with cut and paste elements on fifty-one sheets of paper, mounted on canvas - The Art Institute of Chicago. Masks Confronting Death exemplifies Ensor's usage of masks to reveal the underside of society. While the feathery brushstrokes and palette of the sky somewhat recall Impressionism, the fantastic, grotesque subject in a no-man's land actually anticipates much later takes on reality, such as found in Surrealism. The sky engulfs the two figures, whose dark tones make them stand out against the background - infusing the work with a lighthearted, comical nature.

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