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Lot Essay
'Hounded by those on my tail,' wrote Ensor, 'I joyfully took refuge in the land of the fools where the mask, with its violence, its brightness and brilliance, reigns supreme. The mask meant to me: freshness of colour, extravagant decoration, wild generous gestures, strident expressions, exquisite turbulence' (quoted in C. Brown (intro.), exh. cat., James Ensor - Theatre of Masks, London, 1997, p. 12).
In Chou rouge et masques Ensor assembles his typically irreverent cast of characters like a hissing chorus around a humble Flemish still-life of fruit, four wild flowers and a colossal red cabbage. In so doing, two perennial themes of his art - the gaudy, grotesque carnival masks and the commonplace clutter of his home and studio - are conflated in one work, a bewitching riot of abundant colour and tumbling form.
In Chou rouge et masques Ensor assembles his typically irreverent cast of characters like a hissing chorus around a humble Flemish still-life of fruit, four wild flowers and a colossal red cabbage. In so doing, two perennial themes of his art - the gaudy, grotesque carnival masks and the commonplace clutter of his home and studio - are conflated in one work, a bewitching riot of abundant colour and tumbling form.