Old Lady with Masks was painted at the height of Ensor’s so-called fantastic period, also called his mask period. Originally the artist was commissioned to paint this portrait. After the painting was refused, Ensor transformed it into an overly full masquerade, where the short perspective and the heaping up of figures reinforce the dramatic tension. The subject is apparently Neel Doff, the Dutch poetess and publicist. The gentle radiance of the old lady contrasts strongly with the grisly masks and the sinister skull that press in on her. The aggressive, contrasting colouring of bright reds and greens emphasises the threatening nature of the mocking masks.
| Artist |
James Ensor
RKD
VIAF
Wikidata
|
|---|---|
| Title | Old Lady with Masks |
| Date | 1889 |
| Period | 19th century |
| Signatures, inscriptions, and markings | signature and year bottom left to centre: ENSOR / 1889. |
| inscription reverse, on the stretcher: James Ensor / rue de Flandre / Ostende | |
| inscription reverse, on the stretcher: La vieille aux masques | |
| Collection | paintings AAT |
| Object type | oil paintings (visual works) AAT |
| Inventory number | 1969-B |
| Acquisition credit |
purchase
Leten, Henri Zwijnaarde (Ghent) 1969 |
| Current whereabouts | Work on loan |
| Permalink | https://mskgent.be/collection/work/data/1969-B |
| IIIF Manifest | https://imagehub.mskgent.be/iiif/3/129/manifest.json |
| Art & Architecture Thesaurus |
300056485
fantastic art
AAT
300015637 portraits AAT 300189808 figures (representations) AAT |
|---|---|
| Keywords Iconclass |
13D2
transformation, metamorphosis of person
Iconclass
25F9 mis-shapen animals; monsters Iconclass 25G41 flowers Iconclass 31A211 (human) skull Iconclass 31A42 human beings (legendary or not) of abnormal proportions, size, strength, etc. Iconclass 31A511111 distortion Iconclass 31AA511111 distortion - AA - (for) women Iconclass 31D15 adult woman Iconclass 31D17 old woman Iconclass 31F11 death's head, skull (symbol of Death) Iconclass 33B aggressive relationships, enmity, animosity Iconclass 33B14 threatening behaviour, challenging Iconclass 41D2421 masquerade, masked ball Iconclass 41D283 mask Iconclass 53C22 Menace, Intimidation; 'Minaccie' (Ripa) Iconclass 57BB2 Mockery, Derision, Irreverence; 'Derisione', 'Dispreggio della Virtu' (Ripa) Iconclass 61B11 anonymous historical person portrayed Iconclass 61B111 anonymous historical person portrayed alone Iconclass 61B113 anonymous historical persons portrayed in a group, in a group-portrait Iconclass 61BB2 historical persons - BB - woman Iconclass 61BB2(NEEL DOFF) historical person (NEEL DOFF) - BB - woman Iconclass |
| School / Style |
Symbolism (artistic concept)
AAT
Expressionist (style) AAT phantasy Modernist AAT |
| James Ensor / Emile Verhaeren. - Bruxelles : G. Van Oest & Cie, 1908 (p. 80 (ill. p. 115)) |
| James Ensor / Paul Colin. - Potsdam : Gustav Kiepenheuer Verlag, 1921 (p. 41 (ill.)) |
| James Ensor / Grégoire Le Roy. - [s.l.]. - G. Van Oest & Cie, 1922 (p. 104 (ill. 181)) |
| James Ensor : Illustré de 32 reproductions en héliogravure / Paul Fierens. - Paris : G. Crès & Cie, 1929 (p. 101) |
| James Ensor : Avec 70 planches dont 7 en couleurs / Florent Fels. - Genève : Pierre Cailler éditeur, 1947 (ill. 28) |
| James Ensor / Paul Haesaerts, Jean Cassou. - Bruxelles : Elsevier, 1957 (p. 89, nr. 234 (ill.)) |
| James Ensor : Catalogue raisonné des peintures ; I. 1875-1902 ; II.1902-1941 / Xavier Tricot. - Anvers : Pandora, 1992 (dl. I, nr. 292) |
| Kindercatalogus Museum voor Schone Kunsten Gent / Helke Lauwaert, Petja Gekiere, Celesta Daniëls, Karen Van Gulik. - Gent : De Vrienden van het Museum, 1998 (p. 10-13) |
| James Ensor ou la fantasmagorie / Michel Draguet. - Paris : Éditions Gallimard, 1999 (nr. 178) |
| 200 jaar verzamelen : Collectieboek Museum voor Schone Kunsten Gent / Arnout Balis, Robert Hoozee, Maximiliaan P.J. Martens, Paul Van Haute. - Gent : Ludion, 2000 (p. 176-180 (ill. 123), p. 268) |
| D'Ensor à Magritte dans les collections du Musée de Gand (exposition Lodève, Musée de Lodève-Hôtel du Cardinal de Fleury, 19 novembre 2004 - 27 février 2005) / Maïthé Vallès-Bled, Robert Hoozee, Johan De Smet, Helke Lauwaert, Bruno Fornari. - Lodève : Musée de Lodève, 2004 ; Milano : Mazzotta, 2004 (p. 138-140, cat. 35) |
| James Ensor : Leven en werk ; Oeuvrecatalogus van de schilderijen / Xavier Tricot. - Brussel : Mercatorfonds, 2009 (p. 302, cat. 305 (ill.)) |
| James Ensor : The Complete Paintings / Xavier Tricot. - Ostfildern : Hatje Cantz, 2009 (p. 302, cat. 305 (ill.)) |
| Museum voor Schone Kunsten Gent : Catalogus schilderkunst ; Deel I: 14de - 18de eeuw ; Deel II: 19de - 20ste eeuw / Robert Hoozee, Johan De Smet, Bruno Fornari, Ruth Monteyne. - Gent : Museum voor Schone Kunsten Gent, 2007 (dl. II, p. 21 (ill.), p. 149 (ill.)) |
| Het Museum voor Schone Kunsten Gent : een keuze uit de mooiste werken / Patrick De Rynck. - Gent : Ludion, 2007 (p. 85 (ill.)) |
| James Ensor : Schrecken ohne Ende (Ausstellung Wuppertal, Von der Heydt-Museum, 12. Oktober 2008 - 8. februar 2009) / Gerhard Finckh, Joachim Heusinger von Waldegg, Herwig Todts, Norbert Hostyn. - Wuppertal : Von der Heydt-Museum, 2008 |
| James Ensor : Universum van een fantast (tentoonstelling Den Haag, Gemeentemuseum, 12.03.2011 - 13.06.2011) / Saskia De Bodt, Doede Hardeman, Herwig Todts. - Antwerpen : Ludion, 2011 ; Den Haag : Gemeentemuseum (Den Haag), 2011 |
| Jorn - Ensor (exhibition Silkeborg, Museum Jorn, 03.03.2012 - 05.06.2012) / Ulrik Eskekilde Nissen, Lise Skytte Jakobsen, Karen Friis Herbsleb, Xavier Tricot, Henrik Holm, Lars Kaerulf Moller, Pierre Alechinsky. - Silkeborg : Museum Jorn, 2012 |
| Belgische schone : Ensor tot Magritte ; Hoogtepunten uit de verzameling van het Museum voor Schone Kunsten Gent (tentoonstelling Laren, Singer Laren, 16.06 - 30.08.2015) / Johan De Smet, Jan Rudolph De Lorm. - Gent : Museum voor Schone Kunsten Gent, 2015 ; Laren : Singer Laren, 2015 ; Heule : Uitgeverij Snoeck, 2015 (cat. 9 (ill. p. 8)) |
| Mock Humanity : two essays on James Ensor's grotesques ; James Ensor's grotesques and the History of Caricature by Jules Champfleury ; Frame and figure in the work of James Ensor / Bart Verschaffel. - Ghent : A&S Books, 2018 (p. 42) |
| Maen Florin : Illusion (tentoonstelling Lokeren, Centrum voor ruimtelijke kunst, 22.08.2018 - 27.10.2018) / Stefan Hertmans, Hans Martens, Veerle Van Durme, Erno Vroonen. - Lokeren : Asid Editions, 2018 (p. 6) |
| The Routledge Companion to Expressionism in a Transnational Context / Isabel Wünsche, András Zwickl, Torben Jelsbak, Cathérine Verleysen, Marko Jenko, Maria Frick. - New York City : Routledge, 2019 (p. 328 (ill. 16.8)) |
| The Savage Eye (exhibition Oslo, MUNCH, 12.02 - 08.05.2022) / Lars Toft-Eriksen, Emil Leth Meilvang, Jamieson Webster, Allison Morehead, Gavin Parkinson. - Oslo : MUNCH, 2022 |
| The Social Context of James Ensor's Art Practice / Susan Maria Canning. - London : Bloomsbury Visual Arts, 2023 |
| Ensor / Wilhelm Hausenstein. - [s.l.] : [s.n.], [s.a.] (p.15) |
| Ernst Barlach / Willi Wolfradt. - [s.l.] : [s.n.], [s.a.] |
| Paul Klee / Theodor Däubler. - [s.l.] : [s.n.], [s.a.] |
| James Ensor : Maestro ; enscenering en spektakel in Ensors oeuvre / Xavier Tricot. - Tielt : Lannoo Uitgeverij, 2024 (p. 64) |
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