Auction 23 - I / Books & Graphics. Part I: Prints, Drawings & Paintings

mon 9 OCTOBER -  tue 10 OCTOBER 2017
James Ensor (Ostenda, 1860 - 1949) : Fleurs et statuette. - Auction Books & Graphics. Part I: Prints, Drawings & Paintings - Libreria Antiquaria Gonnelli - Casa d'Aste - Gonnelli Casa d'Aste
Lot 669

James Ensor (Ostenda, 1860 - 1949)

Fleurs et statuette.

1938.

Oil on ebony. Cm 23x33. Signature “Ensor” at the right bottom. Inscription “Ensor/Fleurs et statuette” at the back. Amsterdam Galerie D’eendt and Benedetto Fiore’s Turin Collection label. The very last creative period of Ensor, despite underestimated by critics, is nonetheless abundant of masterpieces. This specific work is remarkable because of its lines gentleness and the chromatic harmony, enrich by grotesque masks which give to the work a surrealistic and magical dimension. If the “dark period” lasts five years and the “light period” lasts fifteen years, the final period, the one we’d like to call “crystalline period”, goes on for fifty years. The crystalline period is distinguished by a flowing colour, an uncertain, almost shaking, way of draw and by the absence of an internal structure. His best works are part of the Fauvism, a movement which includes Ensor as a brilliant precursor.

Provenience: Coll. Augusta Boogaerts, Bruxelles; Coll. Claes-Boogaerts, Bruxelles; Galerie d’Eendt, Amsterdam; Coll. Benedetto Fiore, Torino; Coll. F. L. Bergamo. 

Libraries: Xavier Tricot, James Ensor. Catalogue raisonné, Antwerpen, Wilson ed., 1992, II vol. (1902-1940), n. 744, p. 640. Libert Veritatis, f. 43r°Memoranda. Gisèle Ollinger-Zinque, Ensor par lui meme,  Bruxelles, 1976, plate 54 (ripr. Liber Veritatis). Il carnet di croquis o "Liber Veritatis"  (coll. The Art insitut of Chicago) it’s a sketch book that Ensor used to write notes down about his works between 1929 and 1940, including the this painting. It is exposed at the exhibition Alberto Vitali in Bergamo. 
 


In bella cornice in carta dorata applicata su legno. cm 39x47.

Base price
EUR 28.000,00
sold : Registration