James Ensor, occasional modernist : Ensor's artistic and social ideas and the interpretation of his art /
In the course of the twentieth century, under the influence of the increasing success of Modernism, a misleading image of James Ensor emerged. One might even say that Ensor was confined within a modernist "straitjacket." In order to understand the artist's motivations, this book follo...
| Main Author: | |
|---|---|
| Format: | Book |
| Language: | English French |
| Language Notes: | Text in English, with some passages in French ; appendix in French. |
| Published: |
Turnhout, Belgium :
Brepols,
[2018]
|
| Series: | Studies in nineteenth-century art and visual culture ;
v. 19. |
| Subjects: |
| Summary: | In the course of the twentieth century, under the influence of the increasing success of Modernism, a misleading image of James Ensor emerged. One might even say that Ensor was confined within a modernist "straitjacket." In order to understand the artist's motivations, this book follows the advice given to the art critic André De Ridder by Ensor himself in 1930. "I recommend you reread 'Les Écrits de James Ensor,' where I explain my research and defend my ideas." Ensor's writings can roughly be divided into two categories, his letters and les écrits, encompassing his journalistic work, satirical exhibition reviews, comical speeches, words of thanks and praise and open letters in brochures. The analysis of Ensor's writings is no small task, for he gave little attention to structure and coherence, and employed a complex "wondermiraclelikefulistic" language archaisms, neologisms, staggering vitriolic rants and hyperboles. Nevertheless, his writings are a crucial source of knowledge on his opinions on Christian faith, rationality, hypocrisy, the dangers of an emerging Flemish nationalism, animal cruelty, the destruction of natural beauty and ancient monuments and a number of other topics. |
|---|---|
| Physical Description: | 440 pages : chiefly color illustrations ; 29 cm. |
| Bibliography: | Includes bibliographical references (pages 404-416) and index. |
| ISBN: | 9782503570303 2503570305 |