Espace ING

James Ensor, Study for the portrait of Willy Finch, 1880-82

Ensor left numerous sketches depicting his mother, from her youth to her death. He also tried, especially between 1880 and 1885, to capture in black chalk the people around him: his aunt Mimi who lived in the winter residence, his sister Mitche, his grandmother… leaving behind a commentary on his family life.

His models also included close friends, like Théo Hannon who had introduced him to the quarrels of Realism and his closest friend, the Ostend painter Willy Finch: the exhibit showcases several of his portraits.

As was his custom and with an extremely modern approach, Ensor circled around his model to capture different profiles and experiment with several poses: Finch reading, Finch painting, Finch writing, Finch smoking…

He also sometimes randomly grabbed a page already covered in sketches to capture such or such detail: a few pencil strokes are often sufficient, but he sometimes developed his drawing further, creating powerful studies playing with light and shade.

This type of sketch perfectly explains the creative process which led to the composition of works like the oil portrait of Willy Finch, which you can see a little further on.

[Extract from the audio-tour for the exhibition “Ensor revealed”, ING Cultural Center]

Oct. 7th 2010 – Feb. 13th 2011

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