An etching by the Ostend master James Ensor unexpectedly turned up in an Antwerp thrift shop recently. Fortunately, it was recognised and donated to the Antwerp fine arts museum, the KMSKA. The work went on display there this week, in the final days of the Ensor Year.
Coffee cups, cooking pots, cupboards and picture frames: thrift shops receive mountains of stuff, some of which get a new owner. In the sorting centre of Antwerp thrift shops, something very special turned up recently. When staffer Charlotte Pleysier laid eyes on a rather unsightly frame containing a magnificent print, she recognised the hand of the Ostend master.
‘We have an online team of eight people who evaluate all the art brought in, looking at the quality,’ explains a proud Lander Janssens, the commercial director of the Antwerp recycle stores. The team all had a look and then decided to ask auction house Bernaerts for advice. Their answer was clear: the picture really turned out to be an etching by James Sidney Ensor. Herwig Todts is the KMSKA’s Ensor expert: ‘Not only did Ensor use a recognisable type of paper, but he also had the habit of signing and dating his etchings in pencil.’
A gift for the museum!
The recycle shops then decided not to sell the Ensor etching, but to donate it to the KMSKA. ‘In this way the public at large can admire it for all time,’ says Lander Janssens. ‘We are a non-profit organisation that tries to give people and items a second chance. We want to grant everybody the right to be happy. With the etching in the museum, everyone will benefit, much more than if it ends up with a guy who has a lot of lolly, who hangs this masterful work of art above his kitchen sink.’
At KMSKA, they are delighted with the donation. Director Carmen Willems calls it ‘a wonderful circular story’. The Ensor etching was immediately added to the exhibition ‘Ensor – In Your Wildest Dreams ’ that closes on Sunday 19 January. ‘It is of course a delicate work that we cannot put on permanent show’. The KMSKA was informed of the find in the thrift store just before the Christmas holidays. ‘Just in time for the final spurt of the Ensor Year.’
James Ensor's small etching is called ‘Le meuble hanté’, (The Enchanted Piece of Furniture). On the front right you can see a young man looking at an antique cabinet, from behind which a skeleton comes peeping out. Some typical Ensor masks are also present.
Yet another macabre joke with a skeleton
It’s vintage Ensor, this haunting scene, but it was indeed inspired by real life. A couple from Brussels, Ernest Rousseau and Mariëtte Hannon, were good friends of James Ensor. They even supported him. Their living room contained antique cupboards like the one in Ensor's print. And they had a skeleton in the house that was even named Aglaë. ‘Using it they played macabre pranks,’ explains KMSKA director Carmen Willems. ‘And that's what Ensor is depicting: a skeleton popping up from behind a richly decorated cabinet.’
‘Le meuble hanté’ dates from 1888, the period when Ensor was very busy producing prints. The find in the thrift store is very special, but the print itself is not unique. Other museums including Ostend’s Mu.ZEE, Ghent’s MSK and the KBR, the Royal Library in Brussels, also have copies in their collections.
The title ‘Le meuble hanté’ regularly crops up in James Ensor's work, says KSMKA expert Herwig Todts. ‘There was a painting of that name that was destroyed during World War I as well as a drawing that is currently on display in the ‘Ensor – In Your Wildest Dreams’ exhibition at the KMSKA.’ There is the series of etchings that includes the one from the recycle shop.
A miniscule frame and fortunately no bugs
When the donation was agreed, Ensor's etching ended up in KMSKA's depot, in the good hands of paper restorer Veerle Vercammen. ‘The work had been framed in a tiny little frame, with a browning and speckled passe-partout. First, we unframed the work to see if there were any bugs lurking behind it. Fortunately, there weren't. Then photographs could be taken.’
The etching is in good condition, says Vercammen. ‘The ink is very well preserved. You might see some hazy spots, but that was Ensor's way of working.’ The main problem is that the etching is glued to cardboard, which is not acid-free. That will have to be tackled later.
First, the etching was put into a new frame so it could be shown to the public at large for a few more days. Then it disappears into a chest of drawers. An etching like this should only be exposed to subdued light for no more than six months over any period of five years.
But who was the owner?
From thrift shop to the museum: it's a great story. But it remains a mystery where the etching came from. ‘That cannot be untraced,’ Lander Janssens of Antwerp thrift shops explains. The goods are brought in anonymously.
But what if someone recognises the work? That, for instance, it hung in, say, granny's living room? Can they still claim the etching? ‘What has been given is given,’ says Lander Janssens. The moment you give things to the thrift shop, the thrift shop becomes the owner. And it gave the etching to the KMSKA, the new owner. Only with a certificate of ownership in hand could someone still claim the work.