New online contributions Ensor Research Project

The Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp (KMSKA) launched an Ensor Research Project. The museum possesses the world's largest and most varied collection of work by James Ensor and strives to become the leading centre of expertise in art-historical and material technical research into the oeuvre of this Belgian artist.

The material and technical research into the paintings of James Ensor is performed at the museum's conservation workshop. In a series of articles, the KMSKA tries to familiarise the public with the research methods and techniques applied.

The published and unpublished writings of James Ensor inform the researchers of the Ensor Research Project about some of his artistic choices. In the contribution Ensor on Varnish, Herwig Todts discusses Ensor's views on the use of varnish. Read the contribution Ensor on varnish.

Like many of his contemporaries, James Ensor quite often reused his canvases. In Still-life superimposed on a study of a semi-nude male, restorer Karen Bonne explains how he used to proceed. Read the contribution Still-life superimposed on a study of a semi-nude male.

(News item 16 January 2014)