Lisière du Petit Bois, Ostende

Etching, copper plate, hand-signed and dated in pencil on lower margin. Signed also on plate in small capitals. Specimen on Japan paper. Third and final state on three.

Superb and fresh impression, wonderful proof representing a landscape, in perfect conditions. Croquez has a title " The edge of the Little Wood".  

Reference:  Tavernier n.27 pag. 81, Delteil n. 27, Gall. Henze n.19, 1979, n.52

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, anarchic artist that loved exploring religious subject matter, political satire, and carnivalesque imagery (surely a source of his inspiration derives from his family’s souvenir emporium that sold grotesque carnival masks). Harsh colours and thick layers distinguish his style. His masterpiece is Christ’s Entry into Brussels  (1889), a satiric artwork set in the contemporary Belgium and incorporated his trademark style. A very prolific artist 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.