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This artwork is an etching on zinc plate from 1904. It is signed on plate in small letters at the bottom right. On the lower right margin, it is signed in pencil. It is undated. Unique state.

This is a very fine impression, printed in black ink with plate tone. No other states are known to exist.

References : A. Taevernier, Graphic works of James Ensor, 1973, Pl. T. 3, pag. 315, 3,Elesh 132

This etching has been given another title by Croquez: “ Pollution all around ”. The subject of the engraving is a facetious portrait of Ensor's friends. From the left to the right: Ernest Rousseau, Ensor's sister, Ensor himself, Mrs. Rousseau.

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 colors 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 who 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.