Provenance

• coll. Tony Herbert, Kortrijk

Exhibition

• "Rik Wouters" KMSK, Antwerp 1957, cf. cat. no. 17, ill. no. 15
  "Tentoonstelling Rik Wouters" PMMK, Ostend; Museum Van Bommel Van Dam, Venlo 1994-95, cf. cat. no. 41-1 ill.
  "Rik Wouters" Palais des Beaux-Arts, Brussels 2002, cf. cat. no. 149 ill.
  "Collectie Tony Herbert" Museum Dhondt-Dhaenens, Deurle 2011, p. 44 ill. of this copy from the collection of Tony Herbert
  "Retrospectieve Rik Wouters" KMSK, Brussels 2017, cf. cat. no. 199 ill.

Literature

• "La vie de Rik Wouters à travers son oeuvre" Nel Wouters, Les Éditions Lumière, Brussels 1944, cf. cat. no. 74 ill.
  "Rik Wouters" A.J.J. Delen, Monographies de l'Art belge, De Sikkel, Antwerp 1948, cf. no. 6 ill.
  "Rik Wouters" Roger Avermaete, Publ. Arcade, Brussels 1962, cf. p. 114 ill. & p. 216 reference to this copy
  "Catalogus van de beeldhouwkunst in bezit van de K.M.S.K. van België" Jacques Van Lennep, 1992, cf. p. 391, inv. 4663 with reference to this copy
  "Rik Wouters - Kroniek van een leven" Olivier Bertrand & Stefaan Hautekeete, Petraco-Pandora, Antwerp 1994, cf. no. 75 ill.
  "Rik Wouters. Visies op een levensloop" Olivier Bertrand, Brussels 2000, cf. p. 79 & 299 ill.
  "Rik Wouters & Nederland" Maarten Jaegher, Zwolle 2016, cf. p. 21 ill.
  The work will be included in the catalogue raisonné in preparation by Olivier Bertrand.

Lot essay

• Ensor fills the room

  
  Hands reflective behind his back, piercing eyes and leaning slightly to the side, James Ensor looks at us with a penetrating gaze. He takes an examining pose, as if he were the one standing in front of the artwork and not the other way around. The artist fills the room with his lifelike personality. One can imagine the silence in the salons at the time, waiting for his judgement.

  The bronze is heavy and voluminous. The grandmaster impresses with his larger than life figure. But the fleeting appearance of the sculptural technique undermines the static mass. The particular surface of the sculpture is irregular and unfinished, allowing an authentic reflection of light. The material incorporates a being, masterly brought to life by Wouters with a radiant aura.

  Ensor and Wouters met several times. In 1913, on the occasion of an exhibition “Kunst van Heden” in Antwerp in which they both took part, Ensor promised to pose for a bust. In the spring he indeed came to Wouters' studio in Bosvoorde. The sculpture was ready in two or three sessions. On April 18, 1913, Ensor wrote a letter to Emma Lambotte expressing his satisfaction with the bust:

  The sculptor Wouters made a bust of me in Brussels. It's well done and I'm pleased.

  From 1900 to 1904, Rik Wouters took sculpture and drawing lessons at the academy of his native city of Mechelen and later at the academy of Brussels. He started his career as a sculptor, but from 1907 he also took up painting. Emile Claus's luminism appealed to him very much. Later he discovered the work of James Ensor, whom he deeply admired. Despite the successes of his paintings, he will always find the greatest pleasure and freedom in sculpting.

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