My Portrait in 1960 | MSK Gent
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My Portrait in 1960, 1888

  • etching, paper
  • 64 x 114 mm
  • Inv. 1998-B-34

Public Domain

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In the print "My Portrait in 1960", Ensor tried to imagine what he would look like as a centenarian: a skeletal creature, leaning back, having given up the 'fight for life'. From his skull, confused hair still sprouts, from which the waviness has already completely disappeared. Beside him moves a giant spider that regularly haunts Ensor in portraits from this period as a symbol of his worries. Three snails appear at the feet of the skeleton, which is still wearing a kind of slipper. This kind of macabre fantasy recalls ecclesiastical grave sculptures in which the deceased is depicted in an extreme state of decomposition. According to his contemporaries, Ensor called this print 'simple anticipation'.

Artist

James Ensor RKD VIAF Wikidata
Ostend 1860 - Ostend 1949
etchersAAT

Title My Portrait in 1960
Date 1888
Period 19th century
Medium and support etching AAT
Signatures, inscriptions, and markings signature and year in the depiction, at the bottom right: Ensor 88
signature and year bottom right, outside the depiction: James Ensor 1888
inscription on the reverse: AT
inscription on the reverse: [...] / [...] 1960
Collection print room
Object type etching AAT
Inventory number 1998-B-34
Acquisition credit purchase
Taevernier, Auguste (coll.)
1998
Current whereabouts Work currently not on display
Permalink https://mskgent.be/collection/work/data/1998-B-34
IIIF Manifest https://imagehub.mskgent.be/iiif/3/4039/manifest.json
Art & Architecture Thesaurus 300015637 portraits AAT
300189808 figures (representations) AAT
Keywords Iconclass 11R5 (personifications of) 'Vanitas', the vanity of human life; Fragilita humana, Fugacita delle grandezze della gloria mondana, Meditatione della morte, Opera vana, Piacere vano, Vana gloria, Vanita (Ripa) Iconclass
25F72(SNAIL) molluscs: snail Iconclass
31A21 (human) skeleton Iconclass
31A211 (human) skull Iconclass
31A22621 hair Iconclass
31A236 lying figure Iconclass
31A2422 head turned to the right Iconclass
31D41(100) ... years old (100) Iconclass
31F11 death's head, skull (symbol of Death) Iconclass
41D23322 slippers Iconclass
47H31 spinning (manufacture of yarn) Iconclass
48C513 portrait, self-portrait of painter Iconclass
52A4 Imagination; 'Imaginatione' (Ripa) Iconclass
52A44 Fantasy, Caprice; 'Capriccio' (Ripa) Iconclass
61B2 historical persons Iconclass
61B2(JAMES ENSOR) historical person (JAMES ENSOR) Iconclass
School / Style phantasy
Symbolism (artistic concept) AAT
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. 34)
200 jaar verzamelen : Collectieboek Museum voor Schone Kunsten Gent / Arnout Balis, Robert Hoozee, Maximiliaan P.J. Martens, Paul Van Haute. - Gent : Ludion, 2000 (p. 268 (ill. 125))
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. 80 (ill.))
James Ensor : Schrecken ohne Ende (Ausstellung Wuppertal, Von der Heydt-Museum, 12. Oktober 2008 - 8. februar 2009) / Gerhard Finckh, Joachim Heusinger von Waldegg, Herwig Todts, Norbert Hostyn. - Wuppertal : Von der Heydt-Museum, 2008
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