James Ensor (1860-1949), The Cathedral, First Plate, etching, 1886, signed and dated in pencil lower right, countersigned and titled in pencil verso. References: Delteil 7, Croquez 7, Taevernier 7 (third state of 3); Elesh 7, third state of four.  In excellent condition, the full sheet with very wide margins, 9 5/8 x 7 1/4, the sheet 18 7/8 x 13 7/8 inches.

A superb, early  impression (with an early signature), printed with tone in a brownish/black ink on ivory Japan paper.

Ensor archivist Patrick Florizoone has demonstrated that Ensor’s cathedrale is actually a composite of parts of three cathedrals: the upper left tower from the cathedral at Vienna, the upper right from Antwerp, and the lower portion from Aachen (each taken from illustrations in Le Magasin Pittoresque). But Ensor’s construction is both Gothic and modernist in spirit. It is impressionistic, both massive and light, and supremely high – in fact so high it needs to be cut off at the top! And countering this image is the huge crowd in front of it – hundreds of people, many in masks, strange hats, uniforms.

During his lifetime this was Ensor’s most famous print. Stories abound as to the evolution of the plate:  traditionally it has been said that it was lost; perhaps less dramatic, it may have been worn down after many impressions; but in any case in 1896 Ensor embarked upon an entirely new etching of the Cathedrale which appears to be made after a photographic reproduction of the original; the composition is roughly the same but – although a wonderful print – it lacks the detail, delicacy, and spirit of the first plate.

$29,000

Detail

Detail

James Ensor - Les Patineurs (The Skaters), etching and aquatint

James Ensor (1869-1949), Les Patineurs (The Skaters), 1889, etching and aquatint;  signed in pencil and dated lower right, titled lower left, and countersigned verso. Delteil 65, Croquez 65, Taevernier 65, Elesh 65, second state (of 2). In excellent condition, printed in black ink with tone on a simili-Japan paper. The full sheet with full margins, 6 15/16 x 9 1/8, the sheet 14 x 18 7/8 inches.

A very fine impression.

Skating was a traditional subject for Flemish paintings and prints going back to Breugel, Avercamp and Essais van de Velde; and also among artists in Holland during Ensor’s time including Kruseman, Koekkoek, and Schelfhout. But perhaps the traditional theme of carefree partying skaters is not precisely what Ensor had in mind; the ominous figures in the left foreground, including one with a decidedly wolf-like profile,  and the scattering of fallen figures, strikes an off note. And virtually all the figures who have not fallen, extending far into space, seems to be on the verge of doing so.

Whatever the meaning of all this, the patterning of the skaters against the darkening winter sky and the bare trees creates one of Ensor’s most memorable scenes.

$12,500

James Ensor (1860-1949), Roman Victory, etching and drypoint, 1889, signed, dated and titled in pencil, countersigned in pencil verso [also signed in the plate]. References: Delteil 78, Croquez 78, Taevernier 78, Elesh 78, second state (of 2). In good condition (remains of prior hinging bottom margin recto, slight mat toning not affecting image), with margins, 6 11/16 x 9 1/16, the sheet 10 3/4 x 12 3/4 inches.

A fine impression, printed in black ink on a cream wove paper, with plate tone.

In the second state Ensor added a crowd of viewers and marchers lower left in drypoint,  populated the fields in the background with a myriad of tiny marchers (including a troop on horseback and four tiny elephants), and finished the stormy sky.

The tiny windmill at the extreme right border indicates that this scene depicts Julius Caesar’s invasion and victory over Gaul in 57 B.C.  Many late 19th Century artists were captivated by ancient Roman or Greek historical events; Ensor was not one of them – he regarded this obsession with disdain – and Roman Victory is one of his very rare explorations in this realm.

$4750

Detail

Detail

James Ensor (1860-1949), Ostend Fisherman, etching and drypoint, 1900, signed in pencil, dated lower right, titled lower left, countersigned and titled verso [also signed in the plate, and with the word Ostend]. References: Elesh 123, Taevernier 118, Delteil 118. First state (of 2). In good condition (slight toning, prior hinging verso, slight rubbing top verso, including a lovely fingerprint lower right margin edge), with full margins, 5 5/8 x 4, the sheet 10 1/4 x 9 1/4 inches.

A fine impression of this great rarity (we do not know of other impressions on the market).  Printed in black on a cream/tan  simile Japon paper.  The impressions pictured in Elesh, Delteil, etc., are of the second state.

This first state print is delicately printed; the composition is complete but in the second state the print is reworked rather heavily to produce a darker image.

Ensor was interested in the fishermen of Ostende from an early age.  This etching is surely based on a charcoal drawing Ensor made in the early 1880′s; another version was also made by his friend Willy Finch (Tournai, Musee des Beaux Arts). This etching shows a fisherman posing in Ensor’s studio, far from the natural environment which would have been the subject for most other artists. The style is of course close to that of many of Rembrandt’s etching portraits which Ensor studied and copied in his early years.

$3500

James Ensor (1860-1949),  etching, 1899, signed and dated (1900) in pencil lower right, countersigned and titled verso. The title verso is: “La Reine Parysatis ecorchant un eunuque” (Queen Parysatis flaying a eunuch). References: Elesh 121, Taevernier 116; Elesh’s second state (of 2). In very good condition, remains of prior hinging verso, on an ivory/tan simile Japon paper with wide margins, 6 3/4 x 4 3/4, the sheet 11 3/8 x 9 1/4 inches, archival matting.

A fine rich atmospheric impression, printed in dark brown/black ink with aquatint or grainy areas probably achieved through the use of phosphorus or other grainy elements.

Ensor illustrates an episode from Plutarch, in which the Persian Queen Parysatis, at the left, flays the eunuch who had killed her son. Her assistant stands at the center. Flames emanate from the helmets of those on the right, and a crowd of faces, one skeletal at the bottom, witness this sadistic happening.

$4500

James Ensor (1860-1949), Exterminating Angel (L’Ange Exterminateur), etching with drypoint, 1889, signed and dated in pencil lower right, also titled and countersigned verso. References: Delteil 77, Croquez 77, Elesh 77, Taevernier 77; second (final) state. In very good condition, on a Japan paper with wide margins, (remains of old hinging verso showing through at extreme corners). 4 3/4 x 6 1/8, the sheet 7 3/4 x 11 1/8 inches.

A fine impression printed in a grey/black ink, with substantial plate tone.

Provenance: ex Collection Johannes Hendricus de Bois (1878-1946), with his mark recto lower left corner (Lugt 733).

Only a few impressions of a first state of this print are known; one definitively identified in 2002 by Eric Gillis and Patrick Florizoone, published in the catalogue on Ensor prints presented for sale by CG Boerner.

Gillis and Florizoone note that this print “combines a Catholic element, the destroying angel of the apocalypse with the Flemish proverb ‘to go in one’s pants from fear.’ In his catalogue of the graphic works of Ensor, Albert Croquez made the link between this work and the painting [and print] by Henri Rousseau titled La Guerre. It is not very likely that the painting influenced Ensor, but it is possible that both artists were inspired by the same source, namely the parody of Le Tsar, published in the French magazine L’Egalite on October 6, 1889.”

$7000

James Ensor (1860-1949), La Mare aux Peupliers (The Pond at the Poplars), drypoint and etching, 1889, signed, titled and dated lower margin, also countersigned verso [also signed and dated Ensor 1889 in the plate]. References: Delteil 74, Elesh 74, first state (of two). In very good condition, with full margins, on Simili Japon paper, 6 1/4 x 9 3/8, the sheet 13 7/8 x 18 3/4 inches, archival matting.

A fine delicately printed impression of the rare first state, before the additional darkening lines to the bank at the right, before additional such lines throughout the foreground and in the background foliage.

The print is rarely seen on the market, particularly in a fine example in the first state.

In a tradition reminiscent of Breughel Ensor created landscapes with only a few or no figures (there is a man lurking in the reeds in the lower left of this example) while over-populating other works with various sorts of people, insects and other creatures. Perhaps the serenity of the scenes from nature were a useful antidote to the busy highly populated works, for both artists. La Mare aux Peupliers is one of Ensor’s larger, more ambitious (though no less serene) landscapes; it is impressionist in mood.

$8750