PracticalThe experience of the density of Ensor‟s world is alternated in the exhibition with the breadth of the city by the sea. James Ensor sang the praises of the light of Ostend in his colour palette, marine and allegorical sea views like no other. The massive expanse and horizon is the point of departure for one of the three contemporary meetings with Ensor in the exhibition. Expressive artist Pieter Vermeersch bases his work on the architecture and the „average colour‟ of the space to develop the suggestion of a horizon. At the same time Pieter Vermeersch has also created a solo project with the exhibition in Mu.ZEE in the Ensor house in the Vlaanderenstraat. In the historical replica of the blue room he investigates the colour palette of one of the top pieces from the collection in a new work that is also the title of his solo exhibition: Zelfportret met bloemenhoed (1883) by James Ensor. The painting exceptionally returns for the event to the place where Ensor lived. In this way the connection is made between the two exhibition sites in Ostend. An invitation to the young visitor of the exhibition... A lot has already been written about the masks in the oeuvre of James Ensor. They have really become the painter‟s trademark. Initially they appeared along the edge of the canvas – as though coming from a different or the „real‟ world outside the art. The painting destroyed in 1940 by the fire of war Het behekste meubel (the bewitched furniture - circa 1885/ 1888-90) is one of the earliest examples. Het oude meubel was said to have been the first title of an original version without masks. We can see a young woman adjusting her clothes, together with a girl reading at a table. A skeleton is sitting beside her. The cupboard dominates the entire background but the masks push into the domestic, frozen tableau to the left and right. According to the French ethnologist and philosopher Claude Lévi-Strauss a mask denies as much as it claims, like a myth. In this way Ensor systematically fed and formed his own myth. According to Lévi-Strauss this does not relate to what the mask expresses or thinks it expresses, but what the mask excluded. And he concludes: „is that not true for every artwork?‟. Only a black and white photograph remains of Het behekste meubel. How did Ensor paint it? What colours did he use? What play of light would there have been between the dominating antique cupboard, the masks and the child? At the Visiting Ensor exhibition children can colour a picture and who knows? Perhaps, restore the youth to the painting. Welcome to the painter of masks and the sea
James Ensor is Ostend. Ostend is James Ensor. Except for a brief period at the academy in Brussels the „Ostend Master‟ loyally continued living in the city by the sea. During his life Ostend developed into the queen of seaside resorts. These were the heydays of the belle époque and Ostend was in direct connection to all the major European capitals, from London, Paris, Berlin, Istanbul to Moscow. Then the First World War followed, the inter war years with its many avant-gardes and finally the Second World War. James Ensor (13 April 1860 - 19 November 1949) experienced and represented it all from his voluntary exile in a unique oeuvre. Visiting Ensor is an exhibition and an experience. The museum visitor is invited to Ensor‟s blue room, in a wonderful world inhabited by masks, skeletons, portraits, still-lifes, the sea and light of Ostend. From 1917 Ensor lived with his paintings, his music, books, journals and parrot over the shell and souvenir shop of his uncle and aunt. He followed the world‟s events from his blue room: the political and social developments, the European art movements and the way in which his own artworks were received. He composes music, writes letters, comments on his city, his oeuvre and the artistic milieus in Brussels and Paris. The exhibition immerses the visitor in the magical world of Ensor, where fiction and reality, parody and parable come together.
James Ensor Zelfportret met bloemenhoed Collectie Mu.ZEE ©SABAM Belgium 2010
Emil NOLDE Herr und Dame (im grünen Kleid) (O/D), 1911 © NOLDE STIFTUNG SEEBÜLL, Duitsland
Ensor in zijn atelier, 1948 Patrick Florizoone, James Ensor Archief, Gent Fotograaf Fernand Nayaert
Until 29.08.2010 Mu.ZEE Romestraat 11 B-8400 Oostende Tel + 32 (0)59 50 81 18 www.muzee.be; info@muzee.be 10am-6pm ; Closed on Mondays with exception of 15.02 Tickets €9 adult €7,50 55+, groups (from 15 persons onwards) €1 from 13 to 26 years old Gratis children up to 12 years old Guided visits €50 guide (Nl, F, E, D) - Max. 25 pers. Only on request via info@muzee.be - +32 (0)59 T 00 32 (0)59 24 21 91 - F 00 32 (0)59 80 56 26 Special transport passes The NMBS (Belgian Railways) offers a B-Daytrip-ticket: return trip by train + entry ticket to „Visiting Ensor‟. Available from all Belgian stations (Code 552; code 523 for groups) On the Fringe of Visiting Ensor Ensorhuis Vlaanderenstraat 27 B – 8400 Oostende Zelfportret met bloemenhoed (Self portrait with Flower Hat ) - Pieter Vermeersch 13.02 - 29.08.2010 Claus in Ostend, a homage 17.04 – 29.08.2010 10am-12am & 2pm-5pm; closed on Tuesdays € 2, € 1
The visitor encounters Ensor‟s spirit in the blue room and Mu.ZEE presents innumerable documents from his archive: his library including the literary stories by Edgar Allen Poe; a piano, harmonium, the scores and music he composes, his collection of obituaries. The visitor is immersed in his ballet La Gamme d’Amour with the original costumes, drawings and music. The Master himself appears in the films by Henri Storck (1907-1999), another famous Ostend native and frequent visitor to Ensor and his blue room. For the first time, Visiting Ensor brings together expressive artists, writers, film makers and collectors who visited James Ensor. Besides his family, friends and town compatriots like Henri Permeke and Léon Spilliaert, they travelled to Ostend especially to visit Ensor, including Wassily Kandinsky, Emil Nolde and Édouard Vuillard. The discussed politics, literature and art in the living room of the master who stands as an artistic key figure between the 19th and 20th centuries. Roger Raveel visits, Henry Van de Velde, Jean Brusselmans, P.G. Van Hecke, etc. And they all have to wait in the former souvenir shop first until the faithful servant August Van Yper is given the sign to take them up to the blue room. Mu.ZEE is creating a large „antechamber‟ with all the guests. On the way to the living room they pass a wall of Ensor posters from all over the world.
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