James Ensor: MoMA June 28, 2009 - September 21, 2009
Painting
As Ensor grew into himself as an artist, he began to exhibit a wicked sense of humor, a deeply satirical nature, and a Carnivale-like style.
Was Belgian painter James Ensor a genius with startling insight or a self-obsessed small-town eccentric? MOMA's retrospective demands he be considered as both. Ensor began his career as a realistic portraitist, portraying domestic scenes and still lifes with what was called a "perfect" use of light and color. However, as Ensor grew into himself as an artist, he began to exhibit a wicked sense of humor, a deeply satirical nature, and a Carnivale-like style that, even with numerous images of death, feels darkly exuberant and clever. MOMA has displayed his work - including numerous, sometimes uninteresting, sketches - in a jumble of themes that feels schizophrenic and oh-so-appropriate. There is the first image of masks in his in work (The Scandalized Masks, 1883), as well as various pieces from his religious period (unfortunately, the masterpiece Christ's Entry Into Brussels didn't travel to the exhibit, but The Lively and Radiant: the Entry of Christ into Jerusalem did), overlapping with scatological social commentary, numerous self-portraits, the infamous masks, and even a combination of obsessions: self-portraits with masks. All paint a picture (no pun intended) of a bizarre man, saying more about Ensor himself than he ever said about his subjects.
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