James Ensor and the Graphic Experiment

DIRECTOR’S NOTE

In 2024, Museum Plantin-Moretus is devoting special attention to the work of James Ensor. But what does Ensor have to do with Antwerp? And what links Ensor to this particular institution, dedicated to the printing house ran by nine generations of the Plantin and Moretus family, started by Christopher Plantin? The family provided their luxurious printed matter with illustrations of the very highest quality. Today, the museum collects graphic work by important artists from the fifteenth to the twenty-first century, including more than 200 works on paper by Ensor.

By 1550, Antwerp had become the artistic capital of the Southern Netherlands, the “most modern” market in Europe and a trading and export hub for luxury goods, including prints. The work of Antwerp print publishers Hieronymus Cock and Philips Galle is still considered among the best in printmaking today. They published works by Hieronymus Bosch, Frans Floris, Pieter Bruegel and Maerten de Vos, which were distributed to the far corners of Europe and the Spanish Empire. In this, Christopher Plantin played a crucial role. He purchased countless prints from major Antwerp publishers and shipped them, along with his books, to his international clients. In those far-flung corners of the world, they served as inspiration for local artists. Prints were an early form of mass communication. Peter Paul Rubens saw the immense value of prints in positioning himself as a great inventor of dramatic compositions. A painting could only be seen in one place; an engraving reached hundreds of recipients. This graphic work was certainly not dismissed

Iris Kockelbergh, Director Museum Plantin-Moretus

by Rubens as a second-rate product. Making copper engravings was a highly specialised craft, and Rubens worked only with the best engravers, so that the prints would approach the incomparable pictoriality of his paintings. Like Ensor, Rubens was fascinated by the way black and white could capture light: moonlight on the surface of water, a rainbow, or torrential rains.

While engraving is the work of trained craftsmen from start to finish, artists can draw on the prepared surface of an etching plate themselves. For his famous Iconographie, the internationally renowned portrait painter Anthony van Dyck drew portraits of statesmen, scholars and artists, among others, directly on the etching plate. He then had the background finished by an engraver. The most important etcher of the seventeenth century was, of course, Rembrandt. His talent to capture light and shadow, substance and drama in an etching is still unrivalled.

Ensor looked to the examples of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, primarily Bruegel and Rembrandt. He also approached his graphic work as an independent medium within his oeuvre, focusing on landscapes, portraits, cityscapes, drolleries, masks, still lifes and more. In doing so, he continued a great and long tradition of an art form in which the Low Countries have always been strong, and which deserves more attention, both for the oeuvre of all those great masters and for future engravers and etchers. The Print Room of the Museum Plantin-Moretus contributes to this end with projects such as Ensor’s States of Imagination.

KBR – Royal Library of Belgium, Brussels, inv. S.IV 29323 T. 67

plates by Ensor in his possession.27 In 1955, antiquarian Paul Van der Perre (1895–1970) stated that Evely’s estate contained two of Ensor’s prints on satin.28

A hunt for rare prints, which were quite popular among collectors, had sprung up in the nineteenth century in several countries in Europe, starting with France. Artists and their printers capitalised on this by printing small editions, for example, or on special paper, thereby making their prints into unique pieces.29 This obviously served financial ends – after all, artists and publishers could charge a higher price for scarce or unusual prints. Ensor’s prints on special supports, as well as his prints in coloured ink, and even a counterproof (fig. 21) were entirely in step with the times. Due to the diverse supports and inks, each impression has a very different character. (figs. 19, 20 and 22)

A personal path

Ensor wrote in his letters to Mariette that he was especially fond of shades of grey, but also how difficult he found etching them.30 “Without effort, it doesn’t work! Especially in etching,” he wrote. “Experience is lacking and does not come without effort and repeated attempts.”31 Indeed, more than with drawing and painting, he said, a copper plate could be used “for a variety of investigations and processes”.32 And he would only be able to successfully publish the prints, he wrote, after having mastered the difficulties of etching.33

In 1890, Ensor wrote – perhaps not entirely correctly – to the poet Valère Gille (1867–1950) that he knew nothing about the profession of etching: “I can draw and engrave well and then chance takes over. I cannot conform to all the fine, meticulous tricks of the trade.”34 Yet, in a creative process, it is precisely chance that often makes the results so characteristic. Creation does not entail working towards a definite goal, but is a process of trial and error, failure and trying anew, and in this way mastering techniques.35

19

Village Fair at the Windmill, 1889

Etching and drypoint (copper), 135 × 174 mm

State II/II, printed on ivory satin

Collection P.F. T. 72

20

Village Fair at the Windmill, 1889

Etching and drypoint (copper), 135 × 174 mm

State II/II, printed in red ink

Collection P.F. T. 72

FIG. 21

Village Fair at the Windmill, 1889

Counterproof, 135 × 174 mm

State II/II

Collection P.F. T. 72

FIG. 22

Village Fair at the Windmill, 1889

Etching and drypoint (copper), 135 × 174 mm

State II/II, hand-coloured with transparent and opaque watercolour

Private collection T. 72

FIG. 31 Pride, 1903 Etching (copper), 93 × 146 mm State III/III, hand-coloured with transparent watercolour Museum PlantinMoretus, Antwerp, inv. PK.MP.04981 T. 122

Ensor continued to draw with drypoint in the sky for the second state (fig. 53), but eventually scraped the burrs off the plate again until only thin grooves remained, and the final state was printed (fig. 54).30

In The Thunderstorm (fig. 55), Ensor used a different tonal technique. After etching the landscape, he cleaned the copper plate, covered the landscape, and obscured the light areas in the sky with stopping-out varnish. Light, slanted stripes can be seen in the upper right (fig. 56) and light horizontal stripes in the upper left. In those areas, the plate had not been properly wiped clean. Therefore, some etching ground still remained in the form of streaks, which was just enough to hold up for a while during the etching process. Ensor etched the plate briefly so that the remaining etching ground still held back the acid. This produced an irregular tone in the print. The bite was shallow; after a few impressions this began to wear off and the tone became lighter (fig. 57)

FIG. 51

Detail of fig. 52, The Stars in the Cemetery, 1888

Aquatint and drypoint (copper), 140 × 180 mm

State I/III

Museum PlantinMoretus, Antwerp, inv. PK.MP.04885

T. 56

FIG. 52

The Stars in the Cemetery, 1888

Aquatint and drypoint (copper), 140 × 180 mm State I/III

Museum PlantinMoretus, Antwerp, inv. PK.MP.04885

T. 56

FIG. 53

The Stars in the Cemetery, 1888

Aquatint and drypoint (copper), 140 × 180 mm

Early impression of state II/III, with extra drypoint lines and still a lot of burr Collection P.F.

T. 56

FIG. 54

The Stars in the Cemetery, 1888

Aquatint and drypoint (copper), 140 × 180 mm

State III/III, with scraped off burrs Museum of Fine Arts, Ghent, inv. 1998-B-56

T. 56

Skaters, 1889 Etching and aquatint with

176

232 mm State II/II Museum PlantinMoretus, Antwerp, inv. PK.MP.09485 T. 65

DETAIL FIG. 99

Death Chasing the Flock of Mortals, 1896 Etching (copper), 235 × 175 mm State II/III, hand-coloured with transparent watercolour

Private collection T. 104

PHANTASMAGORIA & PSYCHOGRAMS

On the Reception of Ensor’s Etchings

“What horrible thing is winging its way to me now? No, I shall not even unwrap the parcel. I cannot bring myself to open it… My curiosity proved too strong, and I broke the seal of the scroll. Lust – that is the title of Ensor’s etching. It seems, at first sight, to be set in a furnished room in some tawdry brothel… the decor of banal and bourgeois depravity. Sprawled in the armchair, hands spread out on his stomach, is a hideous bespectacled gentleman, bald, smug… some old notary, pharmacist or churchwarden… his big, myopic eyes are avidly savouring the spectacle before him: in an alcove there is a bed, set a little too high… and on the bed… a fat prostitute, a whore with coarse features and a belly like some huge and hideous balloon, which gives the impression of being distended by the semen of an entire barracks.

Settled beside the sated girl, in complete contrast to her full and lazy flesh, is a thin and miserable figure in a long cassock… [who] embraces the woman, gluttonously biting and sucking her neck! Oh, the hardness of that face contorted by desire…!

Lust!… It would be a thoroughly base spectacle were the phantasmagoria of the surrounding walls not sharply heightened by a wild grandeur – for the brothel chamber is haunted! Under the artist’s etching needle, the design of the wallpaper in the room becomes

Herwig Todts

a sinister and swarming tapestry. The room is infested with tadpoles and gnomes… ugly grimaces and taut smiles, blind dead eyes and slobbering mouths, float about the walls and in the bed-curtains.

The lust of the three masks displayed – an enfeebled and sterile lust – has populated the room with amorphous and embryonic beings: a swarm of stillborn monsters has gushed forth… from the greedy kiss of the seminarian. At the bottom of the luxurious print… Ensor has signed his own name and added a line from Baudelaire: “Hypocrite reader, my fellow, my brother!”

Thus the fictitious aristocrat Jean de Fréneuse, alias ‘Monsieur de Phocas’ in the novel of the same name, describes the sensations aroused in him by Ensor’s 1888 etching (fig. 88) 1

Jean Lorrain (1855-1906), author of Monsieur de Phocas, one of the last decadent novels of the fin-de-siècle, had had ample opportunity to study Ensor’s graphic work closely in 1898. Indeed, the periodical La Plume held an exhibition of Ensor’s prints and drawings next to its editorial office in Paris, from 15 December 1898 to 15 January 1899 (fig. 89). Prior to this, La Plume had devoted several whole issues to the life and work of James Ensor.2 Moreover, the etching Lust was depicted in one of these issues.

103

The Baths at Ostend, 1899 Etching (copper), 213 × 268 mm State II/II, hand-coloured with transparent watercolour Museum of Fine Arts, Ghent, inv. 1998-B-115 T. 115

105 The Cathedral (fig. 104), for illustrative purposes, printed exceptionally in reverse for this publication.

This publication accompanies the exhibition Ensor’s States of Imagination at the Museum PlantinMoretus from 27 September 2024 to 19 January 2025, curated by Izanna Mulder (guest curator) and Willemijn Stammis (Curator of Modern Collections, Museum Plantin-Moretus).

PUBLICATION

Concept

Izanna Mulder

Texts

Izanna Mulder

Willemijn Stammis

Ad Stijnman

Herwig Todts

Editing

Izanna Mulder

Willemijn Stammis

Image editing

Vanessa Paumen

Copy-editing

Vanessa Paumen

Cath Phillips

Willemijn Stammis

Translation Irene Schaudies

Coordination

Sara Colson, Hannibal Books

Vanessa Paumen, Museum Plantin-Moretus

Graphic design

Thomas Soete

Reproduction and printing die Keure, Brugge

Binding Brepols, Turnhout

Publisher Gautier Platteau

isbn 978 94 6494 142 5 d/2024/11922/50 nur 642

© Hannibal Books, 2024 www.hannibalbooks.be

This publication was created with the support and funding of Toerisme Vlaanderen and is available in Dutch and English.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system and/or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher. The publisher has attempted to apply the legal copyright regulations to all texts, photos and illustrations. Anyone who believes they are still entitled to assert rights is requested to contact the publisher.

EXHIBITION

Iris Kockelbergh, director Izanna Mulder, guest curator Willemijn Stammis, project coordinator Vanessa Paumen, project assistant

and the entire team of Museum Plantin-Moretus Vrijdagsmarkt 22, B-2000 Antwerp www.museumplantinmoretus.be

Special thanks to Patrick Florizoone, Gerard Loobuyck and Ad Stijnman for the conversations and valuable advice, of which we made grateful use in selecting Ensor’s finest prints.

Lenders

Royal Museum of Fine Arts, Antwerp

Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, Brussels KBR – Royal Library of Belgium, Brussels Museum of Fine Arts, Ghent Mu.ZEE, Ostend Collection P.F.

Private collection, Brussels Private collection, Ostend

Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum: figs. 69, 74

Antwerp, Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp – Flemish Community –www.artinflanders.be – © Hugo Maertens: fig. 43

Antwerp, Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp – Flemish Community –www.artinflanders.be –© Dominique Provost: fig. 100 Antwerp, Collection City of Antwerp, Museum Plantin-Moretus: figs. 4, 5, 7, 9, 24, 26, 27, 31, 34–36, 39, 40, 44–46, 48–52, 55–60, 67, 68, 76, 82 Bruges, Musea Brugge –www.artinflanders.be: fig. 88

Brussels, KBR – Royal Library of Belgium – Department of Prints and Drawings: fig. 14 Brussels, Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, CC BY 4.0 KIK-IRPA, Brussels, G000393: fig. 75 Chicago, Art Institute, The Stickney Collection: fig. 80

Ghent, Museum of Fine Arts –www.artinflanders.be: figs. 15, 25, 72, 83

Ghent, Museum of Fine Arts –www.artinflanders.be – photo

Cedric Verhelst, public domain licence: figs. 28, 29, 30, 54, 64, 73, 84, 97, 101

Ghent, Museum of Fine Arts –www.artinflanders.be – photo

Dominique Provost, public domain licence: figs. 91, 92, 96, 103

Los Angeles, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Gift of Thomas and Lore Firman: figs. 104, 105

Los Angeles, The J. Paul Getty Museum: fig. 94

New York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art: fig. 81

New York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gift of M. Knoedler & Co., 1918: fig. 90

Ostend, Mu.ZEE, © Photo Antony Ostende: fig. 66

Ostend, Mu.ZEE - library – City of Ostend: fig. 42

Ostend, Mu.ZEE - Fonds Xavier

Tricot: figs. 12, 65

Ostend, Mu.ZEE –www.artinflanders.be – photo

Cedric Verhelst, public domain licence: figs. 11, 13, 41

Ostend, private collection: figs. 6, 8, 10, 22, 33, 87, 98, 99

Collection P.F. - photo Dirk Pauwels: figs. 1–3, 14, 16–21, 23, 32, 37, 38, 47, 53, 61–63, 70, 71, 78, 79, 85, 86, 89, 93, 102

Vienna, The ALBERTINA Museum, figs. 77, 95

Front cover: James Ensor

The Deadly Sins Dominated by Death (detail), 1904 Etching (copper), 84 × 134 mm

Hand-coloured with transparent watercolour

Museum Plantin-Moretus, Antwerpen, inv. PK.MP.04975

T. 126

Back cover: James Ensor

Death Chasing the Flock of Mortals (detail), 1896 Etching (copper), 235 × 175 mm

State II/III, hand coloured with transparent watercolour Private collection

T. 104