James Ensor (1860-1949): Place Publique d'Ostende, décor pour La Gamme d'Amour, technique mixte sur papier, 1914

Work: 27,5 x 21,5 cm

Frame: 43,5 x 33,5 cm

Provenance:
- The collection of Sidney Rothberg, Philadelphia, USA.
- The collection of Auguste Taevernier, Ghent, Belgium.

Published:
- Paul Haesaerts, James Ensor, Harry N. Abrams, Inc., New York, 1959 , p. 324, no. 180 (illustrated as Décor pour La Gamme d'Amour).

Numbered 27 on the back, which bears no further annotations. (see images 3 and 4)

Shown here is a less detailed yet playful version of the Place Publique d'Ostende, the scenery for the second act of Ensor's play La Gamme d'Amour. He also painted a large, populated version, on canvas (Tricot 463). The paintings and the scenery designs were completed in 1912. An enhanced photo of La Place Publique was added to the note he sent to François Franck in 1924 as clarification for the construction of the stage scenery. (see image 5)

The work will be reproduced and commented upon, in Xavier Tricot's forthcoming publication, James Ensor: La Gamme d'Amour, to be published with Pandora Publications, Antwerp. According to the author, the work was executed in 1914.

Ensor’s fascination for theatre began early, before he embarked on a career as a painter. From his grandmother’s eccentric penchant for dressing up in strange costumes, through the sale of exuberant props in his family’s souvenir shop in Ostend, to the cacophonous annual Carnival celebration, the artist was enthralled by theatre’s many possibilities. He was particularly interested in masks, which regularly appear in his œuvre. For Ensor, masks were both able to disguise identity and reveal inner truth. He said: “The masks mean to me: freshness of color sumptuous decoration, wild unexpected gestures, very shrill expressions, exquisite turbulence.”

At fifty, Ensor built on his passion for theatre and produced his own show, La Gamme d’Amour (Flirt pour les Marionettes), which the libretto describes as a “one-act Ballet Pantomime in two tableaux.” Composed solely on the black keys of a harmonium (he feared the white keys) between 1906 and 1911, La Gamme d’Amour debuted as a musical performance on January 17, 1920 to coincide with Ensor’s exhibition at the Galerie Georges Giroux in Brussels, before premiering as a proper ballet at the Antwerp Opera on March 27, 1924.

Set during the Ostend carnival, the play opens in Grognelet’s shop, filled with masks, puppets, and other theatrical props, reminiscent of Ensor’s parents’ boutique. The first scenes introduce the main protagonists, love-interests Fifrelin and Miamia, whose passion is compromised by their quarreling families. By the end of the first tableau, however, the two characters are engaged, and the second tableau (the present lot) is devoted solely to preparing a festive wedding march in the town square.