James Ensor
dal 19/10/2009 al 3/2/2010
Segnalato da
19/10/2009
James Ensor
Musee d'Orsay, Paris
Art nouveau revival. This exhibition aims to show the interplay of fracture and continuity to be found throughout Ensor's work. Continuity comes from the Naturalism and Symbolism that influenced his early work, as well as the tradition of masks, disguise, grotesque and satire, and carnival, a legacy from his childhood in Ostend, a city to which he was deeply attached. Fracture is the dramatisation of the use of colour and light. Through his scathing irony, his sense of derision and self-derision, his intense colours and his expressiveness, Ensor finds his place amongst the precursors of Expressionism.
Curators
Anna Swinbourne, curator Museum of Modern Art, New York
Laurence Madeline. Curator Musée d'Orsay, Paris
This exhibition, the first retrospective to be presented in Paris since 1990, aims to show the interplay of fracture and continuity to be found throughout Ensor's work.
Continuity comes from the Naturalism and Symbolism that influenced his early work, as well as the tradition of masks, disguise, grotesque and satire, and carnival, a legacy from his childhood in Ostend, a city to which he was deeply attached. Fracture is the dramatisation of the use of colour and light. It is also the invention of a new language where the words intrude unsubtly alongside images, in order to give meaning to ideas, and the invention of a new narrative system teeming with characters and actions. Through his scathing irony, his sense of derision and self-derision, his intense colours and his expressiveness, Ensor, a strange and unclassifiable painter, finds his place amongst the precursors of Expressionism.
In parallel with the exhibition James Ensor, this series of concerts explores the artist's influence on the world of music. Two concerts with the Ensemble Intercontemporain will demonstrate his influence on the 20th century through the works of György Ligeti and Mauricio Kagel. The famous Ballad of the Great Macabre by Michel de Ghelderode was inspired by James Ensor's painting, and was to become one of the most important operas by Ligeti. Together with Kagel, Ensor shared the same fascination for the absurd, a recurrent theme in the Argentinian composer's work. The cycle is completed by some of the great Belgian compositions of Ensor's contemporaries: Ysaÿe and Franck as well as by the lesser known Lekeu.
A concert-workshop will feature the ballet-pantomime The Scale of Love which Ensor created and composed in 1911.
Since 2008, the "Orsay Thursdays" have been presenting a new look at the museum. Take a literary stroll, see a theatre, music or dance performance linked with the permanent collections or the temporary exhibitions. After the summer break, the programme resumes in October on the last Thursday of every month, always in the evening!
Under the High Patronage of
Mr. Nicolas Sarkozy, President of the French Republic
His Majesty Albert II, King of Belgium
This exhibition has been organised by the Museum of Modern Art, New York, the Musée d'Orsay and the Réunion des Musées Nationaux, Paris.
This exhibition is supported by the Flemish government
Exhibition also presented from June 28 to September 21 2009 at the Museum of Modern Art, New York
Image: Death and the Masks1897Oil on canvasLiège, Musée d'Art Moderne et d'Art Contemporain de la Ville© ADAGP, Paris - photo MAMAC Liège
Communication Department: Amélie Hardivillier: +33 (0)1 40 49 48 56 – amelie.hardivillier@musee-orsay.fr
Press contact: Christine Cuny: +3 (0)1 40 49 49 96 – christine.cuny@musee-orsay.fr
Musée d'Orsay
1, rue de la Légion d'Honneur, 75007 Paris
Opening times: daily except Monday, 9.30am to 6pm, late night opening on Thursdays until 9.45pm. The museum is closed on 25 December 2009 and 1 January 2010
Admission: Museum entrance ticket: full rate: €8; concessions: €5.50