Roses and Masks

Roses and Masks

James Ensor
Belgian, 1860 - 1949

1910

oil on canvas
35.5 x 43 inches.

Ensor's fascination for irreverence, masques, and costumes can be easily explained. His mother was tenant of a small souvenir show in Ostend, where one could find everything from Chinoiseries to popular Flemish masks sold for carnival days. Picture's of Ensor's atelier in Ostend show that the artist had his own collection of objects and masks. He often reused his favorite ones in the composition of his paintings. During his life Ensor worked on a large number of still life series. Continuing the great Flemish tradition, Ensor was fond of a genre that he could express through selected objects, the sensuality and dangerous seductions of the world. "Roses and Masks" 1910 is the second of a two-piece still life series. in 1891 Ensor released the first version of "Roses and Masks." In the composition, a table is seen in the foreground. On top of the table we can see fully-blossomed sparkling roses arranged in baskets. In the background of both versions, a stranger arch seems to offer a perspective beyond the scene, although nothing in the design looks like rational architecture. Around 1910, Ensor started to work on another painting reusing the first composition and adding new elements to it. A group of three masks appear on each side of the table. In the middle of the composition, three characters that look like small puppets are painting upside down. The interpretation of these figures remains unclear. The arch in the background is no longer an architectural element, but a painted, Japanese fan that can be found in other compositions. Although the form of the object is correct, it is much bigger than in reality, allowing the artist to use it as an independent frame where one can see two, tiny smiling characters in a canopy bed. The discord of the spacial organization ins a constant in Ensor's work, which can explain how and why Ensor turned his canvas upside down to paint the small hanging characters and the fan scene.

Gift of Raoul Verhagen