Ensor, James: cuadros y dónde verlos

James Sidney Edouard Ensor (Ostende; 13 de abril de 1860-Ostende; 19 de noviembre de 1949) fue un pintor belga que participó en los movimientos de vanguardia de comienzos del siglo XX y que influyó en el expresionismo y en el surrealismo. Vivió en Ostende casi toda su vida. Destacó por la originalidad de su obra. Se le relaciona con el grupo artístico Los XX.

Seguir leyendo en Wikipedia

Crónica

1871
Carrera · c. 1871
First lessons with Ostend painters
His father encouraged the talent of a boy with little aptitude for school and, when he was eleven, sent him to study with the local painters Édouard Dubar and Michel van Cuyck. Other accounts say Ensor left school and began training with two local painters at fifteen.
1876
Obra · c. 1876 · Ostend
Paints “The Bathing Hut”
At sixteen Ensor entered the Ostend academy and painted the small “Bathing Hut” on cardboard. The sea had captivated him since youth with its colour, smell and mystery, and the picture can be read as the dream he described 21 years later in a letter to his friend Jules Dujardin.
1877
Encuentro · 1877–1880
Brussels friends and the Rousseau household
At the Academy Ensor befriended Willy Finch, Fernand Khnopff and Théo Hannon, and through Hannon met Ernest Rousseau, a professor at the Free University of Brussels, whose house drew the Brussels avant-garde to debate socialist and anarchist ideas. The lady of the house, Mariette Rousseau, became one of the few women close to him, though she kept him at a certain distance.

1880
Carrera · Ostend
A studio in the attic of his parents' house
Disappointed by the dry teaching, Ensor left the Brussels Academy — 'an establishment for the half-blind' — and returned to Ostend, where until 1917 he worked in the attic of his parents' house above his mother's souvenir shop. There he created all his key paintings of the 19th century — even the huge “Christ's Entry into Brussels”, which, under the low ceiling, he painted now kneeling, now standing on a chair.
Viaje · 1880s
Brief trips to France and the Netherlands
Ensor travelled very little: in the 1880s, just three brief trips to France and two to the Netherlands.

1891
Obra · Ostend
Paints “Skeletons Fighting over a Hanged Man”
Carnival, masks, puppets, skeletons and fantastic allegories dominate the mature Ensor: he dressed up skeletons in his studio and arranged them on canvas in colourful, enigmatic tableaux.
1892
Viaje
Four days in London
One of the few journeys in the stay-at-home Ensor's life: a four-day trip to London.
1895
Exposición
First solo exhibition in Brussels
Acceptance came gradually: the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium acquired his painting “The Lamp Boy” (1880), and Ensor had his first solo exhibition in Brussels.
1898
Evento · Ostend
The Dead Rat Ball
Ensor and his friends began the tradition of the Ostend 'Bal du Rat mort' (Dead Rat Ball), which is still held every year for charity.

1900
Evento · 1900s · Ostend
Turning to music: improvising on the harmonium
His output of new works was dwindling: with no musical training, Ensor proved a gifted improviser on the harmonium and spent much time playing for visitors. In later years he said he had followed the wrong path in life and should have devoted himself to music.
1902
Obra
“Au conservatoire”
- Au conservatoire1902
1907
Obra · Ostend
Composes the ballet-pantomime “The Scale of Love”
Ensor created the one-act ballet-pantomime entirely by himself, complete with his own libretto, sets and costumes.

1915
Obra · Ostend
Paints “The Artist's Mother in Death”
A subdued painting of his mother's deathbed with a still life of prominent medicine bottles in the foreground — one of his few significant late works.
1917
Residencia · 1917–1949
Ensor House

1925
Obra · Ostend
Paints “The Vile Vivisectors”
A vehement attack on those responsible for the use of animals in medical experiments — one of his significant late works.
1929
Carrera
Retrospective in Brussels and a barony
After his first major retrospective in Brussels Ensor was made a baron by King Albert; that same year the composer Flor Alpaerts devoted his “James Ensor Suite” to him. Once a baron, the artist tried to withdraw his political etchings of 1889 from circulation.

Temptation of Saint Anthony1925

1933
Carrera · Ostend
The ribbon of the Légion d'honneur
Ensor was awarded the ribbon of the Légion d'honneur. That same year he painted “Port of Ostend” and “Ensor at the Harmonium”.
1934
Evento · Ostend
A letter on etching: 'My intention is to survive'
In a letter to Albert Croquez Ensor called printmaking the key to his legacy: 'My intention is to survive, and I think of the solid copper plate, the unalterable ink, easy reproduction, faithful prints.'
1939
La época · 1939–1945
Stays in Ostend through the war
Against the advice of friends, Ensor remained in Ostend throughout the Second World War despite the risk of bombardment. In old age he was an honoured figure in Belgium, and his daily walk made him a familiar sight in the town.

Carnival

1949
Fallecimiento · 19 de noviembre de 1949
Ostend
Sepultura
Ostend, cemetery

Crónica

Posthumously