James Ensor - by Inge Herold & Johan Holten (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

The Belgian painter and graphic artist James Ensor (1860-1949) has a special place in the history of the art of the twentieth century. Categorized as a "painter of masks," he styled himself as an individualist and outsider, but was also a harbinger and generator of impulses for future generations. The publication accompanying the exhibition at the Kunsthalle Mannheim focuses on the fate of one picture, Masks and Death of 1897, which was once part of the collection, was seized by the National Socialists in 1937 and is found today at the Musee des Beaux-Arts in Liège. Grouped around this work and the picture Still Life with Rooster, which was acquired as a replacement in the 1950s, are numerous other works dealing with the set of motifs of "self-portrait--mask--death--still life," and show how closely interwoven these topics are in Ensor's oeuvre.

• Ensorjahr 2024
• Overview of the artist's oeuvre as a whole
• Focus on the mask motif as an object and symbol that plays with identity and staging
• Informative texts about the oeuvre, a new look at its reception in Germany
• Exhibition: Kunsthalle Mannheim 2021

Review Quotes

"Als Sinnbilder für die Absurdität des Daseins haben Ensors Themen und Motive, Formen und Farben die deutschen Expressionisten ebenso beeinflusst wie die französischen Surrealisten, die Dadaisten wie die Vertreter der 'Neuen Sachlichkeit' der 1920er Jahre." (Klaus Hammer in literaturkritik.de, 12.2021)

"Der bildreiche, zweisprachige Katalog (dt./eng.) gibt einen hervorragenden Überblick über das gesamte Schaffen des Künstlers, seine zarte Farbigkeit, seine Grotesken und seine facettenreiche Vielfalt." (Gloria Köpnick in KunstbuchAnzeiger, 01.2022)

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