Frise, the Swedish botanist

Orginal etching on zinc plate, signed and dated on plate on verso. Second state of two(II/II).

Very fine impression, printed in black ink with plate tone. Very good conditions, with wide margins, with the embossing stamp “Libreria Prandi Reggio E. ” on the lower right margin. Passepartout included.

This etching has been given various names such as  “Portrait of a Priest”, “Old Man”, “The Ancestor”, “La Plume” . Although this fact, the artwork represents a portrait of the Swedish botanist, Elias Magnus Frise (1794-1878), the developer of the first system to classify fungi and lichens too. Frise’s cap is decorated with flowers.

James Ensor (Belgium, 1860-1949), a forerunner of 20th-century  Expressionism and one of the major figures of the Belgian avant-garde in the late 19th century, James Ensor was a visionary, mystic, allegoric, and anarchic artist who loved exploring religious subject matters, political satire, and carnivalesque imagery (surely a source of his inspiration was his family’s souvenir emporium, which sold grotesque carnival masks). Harsh colors and thick layers distinguished his style.His masterpiece is Christ’s Entry into Brussels  (1889), a satiric artwork set in contemporary Belgium, which incorporates his trademark style. As very prolific artist, having produced more than 900 moil paintings, 4000 drawings and 133 etchings, he was a misunderstood genius, admired by artists like Paul Klee, Emil Nolde, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner .  He was a founder and leader of  Les Vingt   (The Twenty), a group whose goal was to promote new artistic developments in Europe.

  References:  A. Taevernier,  Graphic works of James Ensor , 1973, Pl. T. 3, p. 28, Delteil 3, Elesh 3.