Skeleton Looking at Chinoiseries constitutes a turning point in James Ensor’s œuvre: he introduces the iconographic motif of a skeleton and leaves behind the impressionistic depiction of reality he had practised until then. The painting gives us a view into a room in which a figure is looking at a Japanese (therefore not Chinese as in the title) picture book. Around 1888 Ensor had the habit of reworking his paintings and giving them a new and fantastic content. In Skeleton Looking at Chinoiseries, Ensor restricts himself to two small interventions that nevertheless fundamentally alter the content of the painting: he adds a skull at the lower left, and the sitting figure has also acquired a skull.
| Artist |
James Ensor
RKD
VIAF
Wikidata
|
|---|---|
| Title | Skeleton Looking at Chinoiseries |
| Date |
1885
circa 1888 |
| Period | 19th century |
| Signatures, inscriptions, and markings | signature and year bottom left: Ensor 85 |
| inscription: Squelette regardant chinoiseries / peint dans l'atelier / Van Rysselbergh | |
| Collection | paintings AAT |
| Object type | oil paintings (visual works) AAT |
| Inventory number | 1995-A |
| Acquisition credit |
long-term loan
Koning Boudewijnstichting Brussels 1995 |
| Current whereabouts | Work on display |
| Permalink | https://mskgent.be/collection/work/data/1995-A |
| IIIF Manifest | https://imagehub.mskgent.be/iiif/3/126/manifest.json |
| Art & Architecture Thesaurus |
300056485
fantastic art
AAT
300189808 figures (representations) AAT 300124520 interior views AAT |
|---|---|
| Keywords Iconclass |
11R71
skull as symbol of 'Vanitas'
Iconclass
22C light Iconclass 22C1 natural light Iconclass 31A21 (human) skeleton Iconclass 31A211 (human) skull Iconclass 31A511 mirror Iconclass 41A2 interior of the house Iconclass 41A721 chairs (furniture forms) Iconclass 47A21 workshop-interior Iconclass 48B11 workshop, studio of the artist (in general) Iconclass 61B2(VAN RYSSELBERGHE, Théo) historical person (VAN RYSSELBERGHE, Théo) Iconclass |
| School / Style |
Japonisme
AAT
Symbolism (artistic concept) AAT phantasy Impressionist (style) AAT |
| Hommage à James Ensor : Oeuvres de 1876 à 1930 ; provenant de collections particulières (plaquette à l'occasion de l'exposition Bruxelles, Galerie Georges Giroux, 12 octobre - 4 novembre 1945) / Armentor. - Bruxelles : Galerie Georges Giroux, 1945 |
| XXIIIme Salon Charleroi :( hommage à un grand artiste James Ensor), Cercle Artistique et Littéraire de Charleroi, 19 mars - 4 avril 1949 / Lucien Christophe, Paul Fierens, Albert Croquez. - Charleroi : Cercle Artistique et Littéraire de Charleroi, 1949 |
| 'De genese van masker-, travestie- en skeletmotieven in het oeuvre van James / Marcel De Maeyer. - [s.l.] : [s.n.], [s.a.] (p. 69-87) |
| Ensor (exhibition Art Institute of Chicago, 1976 ; New York, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, 1976) / John David Farmer. - New York City : George Basiller, 1976 |
| James Ensor : Catalogue raisonné des peintures ; I. 1875-1902 ; II.1902-1941 / Xavier Tricot. - Anvers : Pandora, 1992 (dl. I, nr. 263) |
| James Ensor : Oeuvre gravé ; Collection Mira Jacob = Das Druckgraphische Werk ; Sammlung Mira Jacob ( exposition Strasbourg, Ancienne Douane, 24.06 - 03.09.1995 ; Basel, Kunstmuseum, 01.02 - 30.03.1996) / Marie-Jeanne Geyer, Dieter Koepplin, Dieter Lehni. - Strasbourg : Editions les Musées de la Ville de Strasbourg, 1995 ; Bazel : Kunstmuseum Basel, 1995 |
| Van Ensor tot Delvaux (tentoonstelling Oostende, PMMK, 05.10.1996 - 02.02.1997) / Willy Van Den Bussche, Joost De Geest, Michel Draguet. - Oostende : Provinciaal Museum voor Moderne Kunst (Oostende), 1996 |
| James Ensor 1860 - 1949 : Theatre of Masks (exhibition London, Barbican Art Gallery, Barbican Centre, 11 September - 14 December 1997) / Carol Brown, Susan Maria Canning, Robert Hoozee, Timothy Hyman, Xavier Tricot. - London : Barbican Art Gallery, 1997 ; London : Lund Humphries Publishers, 1997 |
| James Ensor ou la fantasmagorie / Michel Draguet. - Paris : Éditions Gallimard, 1999 (nr. 160) |
| 200 jaar verzamelen : Collectieboek Museum voor Schone Kunsten Gent / Arnout Balis, Robert Hoozee, Maximiliaan P.J. Martens, Paul Van Haute. - Gent : Ludion, 2000 (p. 268 (ill. 122)) |
| James Ensor : Leven en werk ; Oeuvrecatalogus van de schilderijen / Xavier Tricot. - Brussel : Mercatorfonds, 2009 (p. 294, cat. 280 (ill.)) |
| James Ensor : The Complete Paintings / Xavier Tricot. - Ostfildern : Hatje Cantz, 2009 (p. 294, cat. 280 (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. 22 (ill.), 148-149 (ill.)) |
| Het Museum voor Schone Kunsten Gent : een keuze uit de mooiste werken / Patrick De Rynck. - Gent : Ludion, 2007 (p. 84 (ill.)) |
| 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 |
| Antwerpen - Brugge - Gent : De musea en hun kunstschatten van Van Eyck tot Magritte ; ontdek het rijke erfgoed in drie Vlaamse steden ; de Vlaamse Kunstcollectie / Geert Souvereyns, Till-Holger Borchert, Paul Vandenbroeck. - Dijon : Éditions Faton, 2007 (p. 78-79 (ill.)) |
| James Ensor by Luc Tuymans (Exhibition London, Royal Academy of Arts, 29.10.2016 - 29.02.2017) / Luc Tuymans, Adrian Locke, Herwig Todts, Gerrit Vermeiren, Xavier Tricot, Anna Testar, Beatrice Gullström, Alison Hissey, Carola Krueger. - London : Royal Academy of Arts, 2016 (p.51) |
| Faszination Japan : Monet - Van Gogh - Klimt (Ausstellung Wien, Kunstforum Wien, 10.10.2018 - 20.01.2019) / Evelyn Benesch, Flemming Friborg, Sandra Gianfreda, Johannes Wieninger. - Wien : Bank Austria Kunstforum, 2018 (p. 23 (ill. 9)) |
|
Do you have any suggestions, questions or information about this work? Write us, collectie.msk@stad.gent |