JAMES ENSOR | Nature morte au livre de Jean Teugels

Jean Teugels, Veurne (a gift from the artist)
Thence by descent to the present owners

Xavier Tricot, James Ensor, The Complete Paintings, Brussels, 2009, no. 769, illustrated in colour p. 407

The panel is sound and UV examination does not reveal any evidence of retouching. The panel is very slightly bowed, and there is a 4.5cm-long vertical surface crack to the upper edge of the reverse and not affecting the face of the work. The upper two corners are slightly uneven, very likely inherent to the panel at the time of execution. There are a few tiny nicks and areas of abrasion to the extreme right and lower edges, and some tiny paint losses to the right part of the extreme lower edge. There is some minor paint shrinkage to some pigments and some surface dirt (fly spots) in places, especially above the flowers. This work is in overall good condition.
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James Ensor painted this beautiful work in 1938 and gifted it to his friend, Jean Teugels. Teugels is himself depicted in the work, in caricatured form, towards the right edge of the composition. A nod to his role as the magistrate of the town of Furnes, he is dressed in archetypal judge's attire. A nymph dances enthusiastically at the tip of his nose. In addition to his magisterial duties, Teugels was a poet and art critic who had published a book on Ensor in 1931. Indeed, it was partly in response to the publication of this book that the artist painted the present work and gave it to Teugels. The book itself features centrally in the painting with its distinctive, striped red border, propped up amidst a table of flowers, vases and shells, quintessential elements of Ensor’s celebrated still lifes. The present work is accompanied by a photograph of the artist and Jean Teugels (fig. 1) and a copy of Teugel’s book: Variations sur James Ensor, Ostende, 1931 (fig. 2).