James Ensor

Belgian painter and printmaker. One of the most original artists of his time, Ensor was one of the formative influences on Expressionism and was claimed by the Surrealists as a forerunner, but his work defies classification within any school or group. He was born at Ostend, where his parents (his father was English) kept a souvenir shop, and apart from his training in Brussels rarely left his home town. His early works were mainly bourgeois interiors painted in a thick and vigorous technique. When several were rejected by the Salon in Brussels in 1883, Ensor joined the progressive group Les Vingt. During the 1880s his subject-matter changed and he began to introduce the fantastic and macabre elements which are chiefly associated with his name. He made much use of carnival masks, grotesque figures, skeletons, and bizarre and monstrous imaginings with a gruesome and ironic humour reminiscent of Bosch and Bruegel. The interest in masks probably originated in his parents' shop, but he was also one of the first European artists who appreciated African masks. His paintings, and even more his graphic work, took on a didactic or satirical flavour involving social or religious criticism and his most famous work, the huge Entry of Christ into Burssels (Casino, Knocke-le-Zoute, 1888) provoked such an outburst of criticism among his associates that he was expelled from Les Vingt. After this Ensor became a recluse and his outlook became even more misanthropic. His work changed little after about 1900, when he was content to repeat his favourite themes. In 1929 he was created a baron when his Entry of Christ into Brussels was first exhibited in public. There is an Ensor museum in Ostend.