James ENSOR (1860–1949). Signed autograph manuscript, Ostend - Lot 220

Lot n° 220
Go to lot
Estimation :
1000 - 1200 EUR
Result with fees
Result : 1 319EUR
James ENSOR (1860–1949). Signed autograph manuscript, Ostend - Lot 220
James ENSOR (1860–1949). Signed autograph manuscript, Ostend, June 1939; 2 folio pages. Preface for the catalog of the Ensor exhibition in Paris, organized by Georges Wildenstein at the Gazette des Beaux-Arts in June–July 1939; 211 works by Ensor were on display. This manuscript was intended to be reproduced as a line drawing. “Generous friends of Paris and France. To you I send my greetings […] I have kept and gazed upon certain favorite works—or those marking a milestone—for too long in the peaceful sanctuary of my studio, thanks to you, thanks to Léo van Puyvelde, our curator of the fine arts, my *Entry of Christ into Brussels* (1889), a painting that has scarcely ever been exhibited, is now submitted to the sovereign verdict of beloved Paris.” He cherished the memory of the warm reception his exhibition received at the Jeu de Paume in 1932, attended by the statesmen Monzie and Édouard Herriot, and “also our good kings, reformist princes, and their chosen queens, yellow ambassadors or green academicians, black collectors, those from all the churches, temples, synagogues, or pyramidal cathedrals, and the staunch believers—they all raised their bourgeois index fingers and their distant visions of worlds where hope dwells, along with their et cetera, etc., etc. praised my pictorial and musical deeds and gestures. Later, old-school investigators—in search of youth or maggots and guided by canine instincts—flourished along my broad avenues, planed my paths, hewn my cobblestones, and swept my crossroads. But you, charming ladies of France, you have little love for gloomy arts. I admire you with all my eyes. Sweet perfumes, fragrant essences, the pearly tears of my soul, crimson colors and flowers—the adornment of my thoughts. Where I live, the sea is beautiful; the blue water turns gray under the moon’s rays, and the musk-scented bather sways delightfully. I’m burning the candle at both ends to pay tribute to Mlle Assia Rubinstein, the devoted secretary of the *Gazette des Beaux-Arts*, as well as director Georges Wildenstein, the “generous collectors” of France and Belgium, and Paris, “the vital circle of great art composed […] the first wonder and the world’s first, of all worlds. Paris, flower of eternity.” And he adds a few lines at the beginning to apologize to the Parisian public, as he is “deprived, by order of the Faculty, of the pleasure of attending the opening of the exhibition of my works”…
My orders
Sale information
Sales conditions
Return to catalogue