NEWSFLASH: auction

Ecce homo - The artist mocked

The panel “Ecce homo” can be situated in 1890. However vast and varied Ensor's oeuvre is, art historians and critics agree that the Ostend artist reached his creative peak in the period between approximately 1885 and 1895. The young Ensor found himself at a turning point in the 1880s, when he abandoned his academic course and engaged a journey into the wealth of his own imagination in an unprecedented, completely original and controversial style. Masks, skeletons, carnivalesque and historical figures make their entrance. His compositions ranged from contourless to completely linear.

Ecce homo, behold the man. According to the Gospel of John, these were the words of the Roman governor Pontius Pilate when he presented Jesus to the Jewish people, who demanded his execution. He would have called himself King of the Jews, a false accusation. The verdict: “Crucify him!”

As “King of the Jews”, Jesus has been mockingly adorned with a crown of thorns shortly before the condemnation. Blood drips down his body, his hands are cuffed. The miniature triptych shows the accusers with their malicious faces on the right. The Roman soldier in the left panel has the thorn branches ready. In the distance, Golgotha can be seen, where Jesus’ fate awaits him. The tympanums are populated with beings looking down on the events from their unearthly world, with a laureled man in profile in the upper right.

The graphic style in which the composition of “Ecce homo” was created is striking. The heavy, bold lines have a medieval cloisonné effect. The artist uses the same repertoire of forms as in the panel “Le Christ veillé par les anges” (1886), which also relates thematically to “Ecce homo”. In both works Ensor depicts himself as a 15th-century Christ. The subject reappears in “Ecce homo (Le Christ et les Critiques)” (1891), in which Ensor is flanked by art critics Max Sulzberger and Édouard Fétis.

The introduction of the Christ figure from 1885 onwards in Ensor's oeuvre is remarkable. The artist was by no means religious, quite the opposite. He frequented liberal circles of artists and scientists. In “Ecce homo” a biblical scene is combined with grotesque elements, an indication that Ensor is seeking satire. Even more, he identifies himself with the Savior. The facial features are unmistakably his. With a serene countenance illuminated by a halo, he faces the mockery and incomprehension expressed by the ugly individuals around him - who place the controversial but brilliant artist on the scaffold.

Colourful Bouquet

Tom Wesselman belongs to the cream of the crop of New York’s pop art scene, which found its origin in the 1960s. Like his fellow artists, the former cartoonist used elements and objects from modern everyday life. He chose them not so much to make a cultural or socially critical remark, but rather for their aesthetic qualities.

“I can’t talk about Matisse without talking about myself. He is the painter I most idolized and I still do.”

Although we identify Wesselman with pop art, the artist himself had a different opinion on the matter. He was more in tune with modern masters such as Henri Matisse. Like Matisse, he sought his own visual language to depict reality, in which colour played a primary role in achieving an eye-catching visual effect.

The cheerful still life may seem deceptively basic: simplified lines, clear shapes, vivid use of colour and a flat perspective. This ingenious simplicity masks the surprising complexity of the composition. Depth is created by whimsical shadows in dark tones behind the teapot and the vase. The perspective continues in the Roy Lichtenstein artwork in the background, while the white surface of the wall serves as composition background. The little bird is offstage and introduces dynamism, like a curious passerby. The lush floral bouquet offers a variety of soft, contourless hues that nod to sensuality and intimacy.

“At first glance, my pictures seem well behaved, as if—that is a still life, O.K. But these things have such crazy give-and-take that I feel they get really very wild.”

The spatial and pictorial innovation that Wesselmann employs in the still life here at auction has precedents in his early work, where he combined collages of torn-out advertisements and magazine pages with objects and different techniques into a poppy whole. In the present work, colours, shapes, artworks by other artists are brought together as a collage for their aesthetic qualities, forming an eye-pleasing scene. The sensual effect he aims for is even more explicit in works like "Study for Gina's hand (1981)", lot 400 in this auction.