Masquerade, Make-up & Ensor, in Antwerp the exhibition where painting and make-up merge
At MoMu, the work and gaze of Belgian painter James Ensor is celebrated through a visual conversation with the most avant-garde fashion make-up.
An outsider artist, James Ensor was a far-sighted and disenchanted painter in transposing the world around him onto canvas, where the actors in the scenes appear as monsters and caricatures of themselves through the extensive use of masks and transfigurations. In 2024, we celebrate the 75th anniversary of the death of an author who still has much to say to the world from his peculiar point of view, Belgium. In Antwerp , at the MoMu, Masquerade, Make-up & Ensor is currently underway, an exhibition that puts him in relation to the transformative aspect of identity in close relation to the concept of mask and make-up. In this way, art is grafted and merged with fashion through the most cutting-edge colour and texture pastes of fashion make-up, thanks to the curatorship of Kaat Debo, Elisa De Wyngaert and Romy Cockx.
Why do we wear masks? Why are people so afraid of visible aging?
MoMu Museum Joins Forces with Beauty Papers art, beauty and culture platform to curate relevant works by contemporary makeup artists and photographers in three new video installations that explore key themes in Ensor's work through the lens of contemporary beauty. Who are the authors? Along with works by James Ensor, Issy Wood, Cindy Sherman, Tschabalala Self, Genieve Figgis, Harley Weir, Julien d'Ys, Inge Grognard, Peter Philips, Martin Margiela , Christian Lacroix, Walter Van Beirendonck, Cyndia Harvey, Thomas de Kluyver, Lucy Bridge, Eugene Souleiman, Éamonn Freel, Bruce Gilden and many more.
It is useful to remember that James Ensor grew up among the shelves of his parents' souvenir shop in the late nineteenth century. Surrounded by carnival masks, pervaded and fascinated by the power of the "masquerade" in his paintings and works, he used it in reverse to unmask: a way to reveal the true nature and deepest feelings of his masked figures. specifically the social segment of the bourgeoisie. Today, makeup and beauty have exploded into a trillion-dollar industry that constantly confronts humans with their bodily impermanence, imagined imperfections and existential fears. However, like painting, makeup is also a means of personal expression, artistic experimentation, joy and freedom. Finally, an exhibition like Masquerade, Make-up & Ensor investigates how closely intertwined makeup is with so many aspects of our being human. Until February 2, 2025.
