James Ensors Intrigue Essays

James Ensors Intrigue Essays James Ensors Intrigue Essay James Ensors Intrigue Essay When I first looked at The Intrigue by James Ensor, I knew that it would be the painting that I did my research paper on. Before entering the museum, I was thought that it would be very difficult for me to write a 5 page paper on one work of art but after stepping into the Minneapolis Institute of Art, I changed my mind immediately. There were so many beautiful works there that, at first, I was overwhelmed. I was really glad that we decided to go to the MIA at the last minute. We were going to go to the Walker, but, The MIA is free and I haven’t been there in a long time. We walked through the Middle Eastern art section first, which was ok, but not really my taste. Then we got into more of the modern works of art and some of them were pretty interesting. That is when I saw the Intrigue for the first time. My girlfriend thought it was really ugly. I thought that it was beautiful. I thought it was really cool how there were so many different characters in the painting. I also liked how the characters looked strange and a little frightening. I thought the background about the painting was very interesting as well, but I will get into that later. First I would like to share a little about the life and time of James Ensor. Piper 2 Baron James (Sidney Eduard) Ensor was a Belgian artist who lived from 1860-1949. (Wikipedia 2010) He spent almost his whole life in his home town Ostend Belgium and he was trained as a painter in Brussels. He Joined a group called Les XX (The 20). The Les XX brought in works from contemporary French artists into Brussels and fought for more artistic freedom. His early works used dimmer colors and were more of the realist style. (The Art of Being Human 152)Many of his later works have depictions of skeletons, masks, phantoms and demons. He was a cynical man who became more so with age. I would say that he was a rebel of his time. He hated the socialite culture of Belgium and showed it through his works. His works were negatively criticized plunging him deeper into withdrawal from society and he became a recluse. He saw Impressionists as â€Å"superficial daubers†. That being said, he was still very concerned with the effects of light. Ensor’s works have been categorized as Symbolism, Expressionism, Realism, and Surrealism. (A Beginners Guide to the Humanities 10) You can’t really put him into one category but if you had to he would be an Expressionist. One of his most famous works, The Entry of Christ into Brussels (1888), was a very controversial work in his time. He depicted Christ riding into Brussels on an ass and a crowd greeting him as he rode in. He wanted the people in the crowd to look materialistic and the upper class to look like they were trying to make a buck off the deal. There were socialist banners and advertisements for mustard all around. This piece includes his masks such as the clown, a skeleton, a witch, and a fraud. It is a very busy Piper 3 work with much to be analyzed. The people in the bottom right corner seem to be conspiring. Not even his group, Les XX, would exhibit it and continued to reject his controversial work. Ensor’s only contact with the outside world was through his art, much like Van Gogh. His dark feelings can be seen in his works. Even his still life and landscapes have been said to have a foreboding quality filled with Ensor’s sadistic, erotic and painful vision. The Intrigue was painted in 1911 in Ostend, Belgium. This is oil on canvas. The scale of this painting is rather large, 35 7/16 x 59 1/16. The shape is rectilinear with straight strokes throughout the painting. The lines are vertical, horizontal and diagonal. There are many colors in this painting, from the light blue of the sky, to the bright green of the woman’s dress. His use of reds in contrast to the green is also notable. He uses pinks for the faces and details them with blotchy reds and red lips. He also uses yellows and different shades of brown. The composition is fairly symmetrical left and right and the characters seem to be either standing still or moving forward. The use of light in this painting to me is well balanced with some light reflecting off of the faces and the man’s hat. The pattern in this piece is that every one is wearing masks which are very symbolic but I will get into this later. The unity comes from the faces of the people and I think a finishing touch is the Skull like demon representing death in the left side. Piper 4 The subject in this painting is the engagement of Ensor’s sister to a Chinese art trader from Berlin, Germany. (Artsnet Minnesota 2010) It shows the small minded towns people ridiculing her with racial hatred and prejudice. They are pointing and laughing at her. The woman in the foreground looks like she is holding a Chinese doll and pointing and laughing. The others are safely hidden in their masks laughing and making fun of the couple. This was a big scandal at the time in such a small town where interracial marriages were not accepted as they are today. There is a lot of symbolism in this painting. The masks symbolize different things. The masks of His sister, Mariette and Tan Hee Tseu (Minneapolis Institute of Art) protect them from the crowd while the masks of the tormenters allow them to say what they will without fear of retribution. (Artsnet Minnesota 2010) They symbolize the ugliness of the hearts of the people who are viciously attacking the couple. The depiction of the skull like figure on the left side symbolizes death. The thick paint in the sky symbolizes turmoil and doom. The psychological aspect of this painting is to show us the injustice faced by his sister and to make us part of the painting. It almost feels like the people are pointing and teasing you when you look at it because of how it bring you in to the painting. The death figure is to try to instill fear into you in this painting and the odd masks are kind of terrifying. It is meant to be a scary painting that is shocking and make you think about the injustice these people faced. Piper 5 Ensor had a disgust for the inhumanity in the world. He despised the aristocratic society and the socialist government. His paintings show the ugliness of people and how greedy we can be. I think that he felt that life was really unfair and was sad that people treated others the way that they did. I really feel bad for him. Even his own group abandoned him and wouldn’t show his work. I believe that is why he became a recluse. As for my own thoughts on this painting, I loved it. It really inspired me to look at more art. I like the style of the artist and his thick brush strokes that seem to have excess paint on them. It is a very textural painting. It looks like it was painted with a lot of anger and distain. I think that my favorite character in this painting is the guy on the far right with the yellow hat on. He is very strange looking and has a detached jaw. I really would like to know what the inspiration was to paint this character. He has a very strange look on his face like he isn’t quite sure that he likes what he is doing or that he is regretful. I think that the hat he is wearing makes me wonder if he might be a farmer. He doesn’t look like any of the other people in this picture which makes me wonder why. The other characters I like in this painting are the guy who is in the back left. He looks like he is holding a cape open and is giving us a very menacing look. I would almost say he looks like a vampire. I also like the guy below him he looks a little like a troll and is wearing a strange horned hat. He seems to be breathing something out which I have determined is laughter. Piper 6 I think that the most interesting aspect to this work of art is the skeletal image painted in the same color as the sky. I almost missed it the first time I looked at the painting. It is a really frightening looking skull making a fist. The eyes grip you with terror. I think that it is a warning to the people that bad things will happen to them. Maybe it is a wish by Ensor that they will go to hell or be taken to their death for their inhumane treatment of others. Piper 7 1. Bishop, Phillp E. A Beginner’s Guide to The Humanities. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall 2010. Print 2. Janaro, Richard and Thelma Altshuler. The Art of Being Human. New York: Pearson Longman. Print 3. Minneapolis Institute of Art, Minneapolis, MN 2010. Print 4. Artsnet Minnesota. James Ensor Intrigue, About the Art. Web. 2010 5. Wikipedia. James Ensor. Web. 2010