James Ensor: Stoutste dromen (KMSKA)
Het Impressionisme voorbij
Herwig Todts (Ed.)
KMSKA & Hannibal, 2024
€45,00
Beautiful tribute to one of the fathers of international modernism, James Ensor.
The imaginative mind of James Ensor guides us through his multifaceted universe of still lifes, self-portraits, wild visions, carnival and satire. Ensor developed into a rebellious game changer in the course of his career, who determined the rules of art himself. In doing so, he resolutely distanced himself from the classical European ideal of beauty and from Impressionism, which had initially fascinated him.
Ensor did not limit himself to making paintings. He also unleashed his experimental urge on detailed drawings, gigantic collages and powerful etchings. His love of whimsicality resulted in the typical grotesque representations of countless naughty dreams.
The heartbeat of the exciting late nineteenth century beats in the more than two hundred works depicted. Ensor always manages to surprise with his contrasts between the comic and the macabre, the refined and the wild, the atmospheric bourgeois salons and the morbid skeletons.
Fifteen authors, each from their own expertise, highlight certain facets and developments of the Ostend artist, resulting in a renewed overall picture of Ensor’s life and oeuvre.
Publication accompanying the exhibition Ensor’s Stoutste dromen – Beyond Impressionism at the Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp from 28 September 2024 to 19 January 2025.
IN DUTCH, BUT ON REQUEST AVAILABLE IN FRENCH OR ENGLISH
ISBN: 9789464941302
