James Ensor
The Museum of Modern Art presents James Ensor—the first exhibition at an American institution to feature the full range of his media in over 30 years.
Art Exhibition
previously on
at
The Museum of Modern Art - MoMA
in
United States.
From
Sunday 28 June 2009 to Monday 21 September 2009
Published by MOMA on Monday 13 July 2009.
Contact the publisher.
James Ensor (1860–1949) was a major figure in the Belgian avant-garde of the late nineteenth century and an important precursor to the development of Expressionism in the early twentieth. In both respects he has influenced generations of later artists. This exhibition presents approximately 120 works, examining Ensor’s contribution to modernity, his innovative and allegorical use of light, his prominent use of satire, his deep interest in carnival and performance, and his own self-fashioning and use of masking, travesty, and role-playing. Examples of Ensor’s paintings, prints, and drawings are installed in an overlapping network of themes and images to produce a complete picture of this daring, experiential body of work. Ultimately, this exhibition presents James Ensor as a socially engaged and self-critical artist involved with the issues of his times and with contemporary debates on the very nature of modernism. The exhibition, which is accompanied by a fully illustrated catalogue, will travel to the Musée d’Orsay, Paris, October 2009–February 2010.
