Peculiar Insects | MSK Gent
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Peculiar Insects, 1888

  • drypoint, paper
  • 114 x 154 mm
  • Inv. 1998-B-46

Public Domain

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In the print Peculiar Insects, Ensor refers to a passage from "Die Launen der Verliebten" by Henrich Heine, in which a beetle is in love with a fly. The dragonfly on the left, with Mariette Rousseau's head, looks in the direction of a beetle with Ensor's head, which is staring shyly ahead. With this print Ensor is probably alluding to an intimate relationship he had with Mariette. Her image appears in various works together with that of Ensor. The print was probably based on a photo from 1888, in which they are posing together in the garden of the building at the rue Vautier nr. 20 in Brussels. In the article "Ensor intime", published in the magazine La Plume in 1898, Blanche Rousseau, a cousin of the family, told of a meeting at the home of the Rousseaus, where Ernest Rousseau junior read a passage from Heine's "Die Launen der Verliebten" in the presence of Ensor. Five states of this drypoint exist in which Ensor provided the dragonfly with the long abdomen and elaborated the beetle. He also added a second beetle and a figure in the building on the right.

Artist

James Ensor RKD VIAF Wikidata
Ostend 1860 - Ostend 1949

Title Peculiar Insects
Date 1888
Period 19th century
Medium and support drypoint AAT
Signatures, inscriptions, and markings signatures (names) top left: Ensor
signature and year bottom right: Ensor 88
signature and year bottom right: James Ensor 1888
inscription on the reverse: AT
inscription on the reverse: Les insectes singuliers / pointe sèche [...] / [...]
Collection print room
Object type drypoint AAT
Inventory number 1998-B-46
Acquisition credit purchase
Taevernier, Auguste (coll.)
1998
Current whereabouts Work currently not on display
Permalink https://mskgent.be/collection/work/data/1998-B-46
IIIF Manifest https://imagehub.mskgent.be/iiif/3/4056/manifest.json
Art & Architecture Thesaurus 300056485 fantastic art AAT
300124534 self-portraits AAT
300189808 figures (representations) AAT
Keywords Iconclass 25F711(BEETLE) insects: beetle Iconclass
25F711(DRAGON-FLY) insects: dragon-fly Iconclass
25F711(FLY) insects: fly Iconclass
33C8 amorousness, desire Iconclass
41A housing Iconclass
41A1 civic architecture; edifices; dwellings Iconclass
41A3311 open window Iconclass
41A6 garden Iconclass
48B3 portrait, self-portrait of artist Iconclass
56F1 Desire; 'Desiderio' (Ripa) Iconclass
56F13 (Feeling of) Attraction Iconclass
56FF22 Unrequited Love Iconclass
61B2(HEINRICH HEINE) historical person (HEINRICH HEINE) Iconclass
61B2(JAMES ENSOR) historical person (JAMES ENSOR) Iconclass
61BB2 historical persons - BB - woman Iconclass
61BB2(ROUSSEAU, Mariette) historical person (ROUSSEAU, Mariette) - BB - woman Iconclass
61E(BRUSSELS) names of cities and villages (BRUSSELS) Iconclass
61F(RUE VAUTIER) names of historical buildings, sites, streets, etc. (RUE VAUTIER) Iconclass
83(HEINE, Die Launen der Verliebten) (scenes from) specific works of literature (HEINE, Die Launen der Verliebten) Iconclass
School / Style phantasy
satire (artistic device) AAT
James Ensor : Catalogue illustré de ses gravures ; Leur description critique et l'inventaire des plaques = Geïllustreerde catalogus van zijn gravures ; Hun kritische beschrijving en inventaris van de platen = Illustrated catalogue of his engravings ; Their critical description and inventary of the plates / Auguste Taevernier. - Ledeberg (Gent) : Erasmus Boekhandel bv Amsterdam, 1973 (nr. 46)
Kunstenaarsportretten (uit Antwerpen, Brugge en Gent : tentoonstelling Gent, Museum voor Schone Kunsten, 26 mei - 19 augustus 2007) / Dorine Cardyn-Oomen, Nanny Schrijvers, Monique Tahon-Vanroose. - Gent : Vlaamse Kunstcollectie, 2007 (p. 74-75, nr. 81 (ill.))
Onder de loep : Kunstenaars en wetenschappers op ontdekkingstocht in Genk (1800-1914) (tentoonstelling Genk, Emile van Dorenmuseum, 26.05.2013 - 17.11.2013) / Kristof Reulens. - Genk : Emile Van Dorenmuseum, 2013
Tristan Tzara : L'homme approximatif ; poète - écrivain d'art - collectionneur (exposition Strasbourg, Musée d'Art moderne et contemporain de Strasbourg, 24.09.2015 - 17.01.2016) / Serge Fauchereau, Henri Béhar, Hélène Besnier, Eugen Simion. - Strasbourg : Musées de la Ville de Strasbourg, 2015
Simryn Gill : de (hemi)cyclus van bladeren en papier = l'(hémi)cycle de feuilles et papier = the (hemi)cycle of leaves and paper (tentoonstelling Gent , Museum voor Schone Kunsten Gent, 22.04 - 04.09.2016) / Catherine De Zegher, Jan Braet. - Gent : Museum voor Schone Kunsten Gent, 2016 (p. 14)
James Ensor : An Intimate Portrait (exhibition New York, Gladstone Gallery, 06.11.2021 - 15.01.2022) / Sabine Taevernier, Herwig Todts, Xavier Tricot, Susan Maria Canning. - New York City : Gladstone Gallery, 2021 (p. 72-73, 126)
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