James Ensor The Dangerous Cooks 1896

Inspirer of energy and steadfastness Let us be great and deep like the sea, (Theater of Masks)14 said James Ensor about the sea. Nature was a constant inspiration to Ensor, and, just as the ever changing depths of the sea he loved, Ensor was a well of new ideas and deep thoughts. These ideas are expressed in his earliest works and continue into his later ones. He began his art career with an impressionist style, and evolved from there into expressionism. The transition in his painting is seen with in his movement from thick, blocky lines to thinner, more radical brush strokes. The characteristic strokes of his expressive style gives his works a mask like or caricature quality. As his style changed so did his subject matter. Ensor began with traditional landscapes and portraits; He went on to spend most of his career doing satirical work (Haetaerts 36). Ensor used this satirical experience to create one particular work called The Dangerous Cooks in 1896. To understand this work one must understand its context. Context, as applied to art, has many different dimensions. First, I will explore the inspirational context of the artist, second, the inspirational context of The Dangerous Cooks, and third is the environmental context of The Dangerous Cooks. From there The Dangerous Cooks will be picked apart for meaning. Each aspect of the piece will be theorized. These theories will be formed on the theories of others, on previous works done by Ensor, and on the works contextual basis.

Ensors parents owned a shop full of interesting odds and ends. Ensor used these unique objects to depict new worlds. In one of Ensors earliest works Mermaid (undated) he puts a human like head on a scaly fish swimming in the ocean (Haetaerts 36). Ensor admits that many of the unusual characters he depicts are inspired from memories of his parents shop. As he grew older his inspirations changed. In a letter to the art critic de Mont dated 1900, Ensor mentions some artists that he considers true masters. The list of artists, as he gave it, included Turner, Constablt, Crome, Gainsborough, Hogarth, and Rowlandson (Theater of Masks 98). However, Ensors style does not match with those he claimed to esteem. Turner, Constable, Crome and Gainsborough all paint in the classical style and depict traditional subjects, specifically, landscapes and portraits. Though in a different style, Ensor painted many landscapes early in his life. Although Ensor stopped painting landscapes he never stopped loving the environment. In response to the industrialization of his hometown Ensor wrote, Poor old Ostend, at the mercy of the depredations of lame architects who see no farther than their noses. Down with those who are ruining our marvelous landmarks! (Haesaerts 44). Ensors love for Turner, Constablt, Crome, and Gainsborough stems from his love of nature. In addition to the previously mentioned artists Ensor also listed the satirists William Hogarth and Thomas Rowlandson as artists he esteemed. Though Ensor does not adopt the style of these two artists it is very probable that the political messages of his works were inspired by them.

Les XX, or The Twenty, were a group of artists formed in Brussels. This group was brought together by a lawyer named Octave Maus (1856-1919). Though composed of different types of artists, the group was unified in the idea of innovation and modernism in art. Ensor was one of the members of this group (New York: The Museum of Modern Art, 2009). Unfortunately, Ensor was not a popular member of Les XX because he criticized popular people and ideas. Powerful members of the government, clergy, military, medical profession, and even other members of Les XX became subject to Ensors biting satirical messages (Swinbourne, 2425). One example of Ensors social messages was done in response to the killing of two protesting fishermen. The fishermen were killed by soldiers sent to stop the protesting during a protest about the importation of foreign fish. Ensor reacted in 1888 by painting The Strike in Ostend depicting a gruesome image of the two fishermen being slaughtered. Due to Ensors strong political stance and wild style the other members of Les XX rejected and criticized him. In 1893 Les XX dissolved to reform again without Ensor. My umbrella is always to hand; Im abused, Im insulted, I exist, Im mad, Im simpleminded, Im nasty, wicked, incapable, ignorant, a creampuff, Said Ensor in reaction to this abandonment. Ensor left Brussels, and retreated back to Ostend (Virginia 2012). It was in this hurt state that Ensor painted The Dangerous Cooks of 1896. In The Dangerous Cooks Ensor uses arbitrary color, harsh brush strokes, and bold lines to inspire repulsion in its viewers. Though Van Gogh was not among the great artists on Ensors list (http://www.shafe.co.uk/art/vincent_van_gogh3

_night_cafe-(1888)-.asp), it is apparent that, at least for this painting, Van Goghs Night Caf of 1888 was a likely inspiration. Both paintings use the bold contrasts of Red and Green to create purposefully unpleasant feelings. The design similarities dont stop with color. The thick paint and obvious brushstrokes of both paintings also add to the hellish atmosphere created. Brushstokes express the mood of a painter, in this case they are bold and harsh expressing anger. The last similarity in these paintings is the bold outline around the shapes. This solid black outlines makes objects and people in the paintings seem bolder, and like the brush stroke, more emotionally charged. The focal point of Ensors The Dangerous Cooks is the head on the platter. This head represents Ensor himself. Ensor, to be funny, displays his head being served with pickled herring. In French the word for pickled herring sounds like the French words for Ensors Art (MaMA). Ensor loved to play on words and pictures to get his meaning across. Ensor uses this technique to make another visual point in this piece. In the background of The Dangerous Cooks at the top of a long staircase exists a white door with a 100 posted on its front. The posted 100, the whiteness, and the elevation of the door all point to the idea that Ensor meant this door to represent perfection. In French the word for one hundred is cent. Cent is pronounced the nearly identically to the French word for holy, Saint. The color white has long been used by different cultures to represent clean and pure. White is the color of a virgins wedding gown to symbolize her purity and it is the color of a flag of truce. In the Bible John uses light to symbolize Christ, and white is the artists version of light on canvas. Christianity has long considered heaven to be skyward while hell is down, which lends weight to the idea that Ensor meant the door to symbolize perfection. While these three things, color, position, and play on

words, could be coincidence individually, when taken together it is almost certain Ensor meant the door to represent a form of artistic perfection. To achieve this perfection, or get to the door, one must first climb the stairway. In The Dangerous Cooks there is a man attempting the ascent. Upon approaching his goal, the door is opened and a hand is reached out. This hand holds a gigantic cup of coffee, which is then poured on the poor mans head. This man likely represents Ensor or a modern artist like him. As Ensor climbs the stairs and is at the brink of reaching perfection he is criticized. Instead of perfection being welcomed by the public it is treated with scorn. All the other characters in the painting belonged to the group Les XX. The cook carrying Ensors head is the lawyer Octave Maus, who organized Les XX. The cook with the frying pan is Edmund Picard. Picard is frying the head of Gionne Vogels. The head on the chicken is that of Anna Boch (MoMA). And Georges Lemmen is one of the heads sitting on the shelf (Great Brittan: Lund Humphries Publishers Ltd, 1997)25. The people sitting at the table are a mixture of Ensors supporters and critics. Though Octave Maus was an anti-traditionalist (http://www.visual-artscork.com/history-of-art/les-vingt.htm) he was also skeptical of Ensor. In The Dangerous Cooks Maus is the server of Ensors head. This is Ensors way of making it clear that Maus was the biggest of his critics. On Maus left shoulder Ensor depicts him wearing a Swastika. This painting was done far before the Swastika came to represent the Nazi party in Germany. In fact when Ensor used it, the Swastika was an ancient symbol for good luck and auspiciousness (United States Holocaust Memorial Museum 11 May 12). It is the very traditional nature of the swastika that Ensor was appealing to when using it to adorn the chest of Maus. The Swastika

symbol associates Mauss image with traditionalism. This would have been very offensive to Maus, who took great effort, during his life, to fight against the tradition. From Mauss belt hangs a mouse. A real waiter would not show off a dead mouse found in his kitchen. This mouse is a representation of how Maus shows off his pseudo-modern beliefs. Maus displays these beliefs around his belt for all to see, but they couldnt be less worthy of praise. Picard, a lawyer friend of Maus, is portrayed as the cook. Ensor depicts Picard as the brains behind Mauss criticism. Maus may serve Ensor, but Picard does the cooking. Ensor associates Picard with the root of all evil, Satan. Instead of a spatula to stir Vogels simmering head Picard holds a trident. On Picards elbow is a bloody cloth. Picard could have this bloody towel from severing the actual heads, or just from the process of cooking them. Either way, Picard is the one with his hands dirty, while Maus is the messenger. Vogels, Buch, and Lemmen, the heads, are those of young artists in the Les XX group (Great Brittan: Lund Humphries Publishers Ltd, 1997). The youth and inexperience of these artists made Ensor feel that they were likely candidates for criticism from Maus and Picard. There is one unusual head, which sticks out more than the rest. This is the head of young Anna Buch. Buch is the only female of the group. Ensor portrays Buch as the head of a laying chicken, accentuating Buchs sex. This suggests that Buchs sex played a key role in the negative feedback she received from Maus and Picard. At the table sit some of the members of Les XX. This group consists of both Ensors supporters and detractors (MaMA). Though the identity of each member is unclear there are clues as to which members are supporters and which are not. At the table sit five individuals, two of which are vomiting. Vomit is usually a sign of strong distaste. The members of Ensors group

who disliked him would relish the thought of eating him. It is Ensors followers who would find the meal disturbing. Though it is difficult to say for certain, it is likely his followers whom Ensor displays vomiting. Ensor has done many duplicates of The Dangerous Cook. The time Ensor took to make multiple copies of this particular image demonstrates a deep affection towards it. Why Ensor particularly liked this work is not known, however, it can be speculated. One reason may be that this particular image is not a common work of art, but produced to communicate thought. Ensor did not create this work to be pretty, but to speak. Ensor was very hurt by the abandonment of his artistic contemporaries. After Les XX dissolved, Ensor made some drastic life changes. Ensor stopped producing the multitudes of spontaneous paintings he had before. He tried to sell all the artwork in his studio; He moved back to his home town (Kula). All this points to the pain and loneliness he must have felt. He needed a way to relieve himself of his emotional burden; The Dangerous Cooks was that escape for him. A way to let out all he wanted to say when no one wanted to listen. As a satirist, rejected by society, Ensor felt a connection between himself and religious icons. Ensor felt like another Jesus, or John the Baptist, preaching societal wrongs and being condemned for it. Ensor has created many religious works, and in a few he makes a perceptible visual comparison between himself and religious figures. In The Dangerous Cooks Ensor links himself to John the Baptist (MaMA). The comparison between himself and John is mainly seen in the fact that Ensor chose to put his head on a charger just as Johns head was. This comparison might appear insubstantial if it were not for other cases in which Ensor makes an even more blatant appeal to holy men. Ensor on the Cross (1886) is one of the more striking examples pg66 (theatre of masks). In this image Ensor depicts Christ and the two criminals all suffering
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on their crosses. Above Christs head Ensor placed a sign reading Ensor, in big, capital letters. This sign makes it clear that he sees himself as the prophet of his modern day. The Dangerous Cooks is a successful satirical work. Ensor used this work to release some of the hurt feelings bottled inside. By using symbology Ensor is able to communicate how he feels about his critics and friends. The clashing complementary colors, bold brush strokes, and dark outline, lend a hellish quality to the image. This technique can be compared to that which Van Gogh uses in his Night Caf of 1888. Ensor uses a play on image and words to communicate that as modern works approach perfection they are rejected. Ensor compares himself to John the Baptist to communicate that he, like John, is a prophet. He sees the bad that is going on in society, and warns against it. Humans by nature are social creatures. It takes a lot of courage to speak out against social norms. Though one may not agree with Ensors societal opinions, it is hard not to respect him. He took the rejection of all, and faced poverty because he believed he wanted to make the world a better place.

Lightfoot, G. (1989, Sep 16). Swastika symbolism. The Ottawa Citizen, pp. B.2-B2. http://search.proquest.com/docview/239327614?accountid=4488 Harrison Charles and Paul Wood, Art In Theory 1900-2000: An Anthology of Changing Ideas. Malden: Blackwell Publishing, 1992. (Malden: Blackwell Publishing, 1992) pg. Farmer John David, Ensor, A Biograghy. New York: George Braziller, 1976. Tannenbaum Libby, James Ensor: A Biography. New York: The Museum of Modern Art, 1966. (New York: The Museum of Modern Art) pg. Haesaerts Paul, James Ensor: A Biography. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1959. (New York: Harry N. Abrams) 36. Mermaid his moms shops with many strange obgects Ensor and His Critics 26 Kula, Katherine Virginia. Me and My Circle: James Ensor in the Twentieth Century. University of Maryland, College Park, 2010 United States -- MarylandProQuest Dissertations & Theses (PQDT). 27 May 2012 . Gindertael Roger Van, Ensor: A Biography. Boston: New York Graphic Society Ltd, 1975. (Boston: New York Graphic Society Ltd) pg. Mamamultimedia James Ensor The Dangerous Cooks http://www.moma.org/explore/multimedia/audios/159/1747 United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, <ushmm.org>, Holocaust Encyclopedia ,History of the Swastika 11MAY 2012 http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007453&gclid=CIq5s9_iobACFQ9whw odtioFaQ Spit- aweful things the critics say, seems to be a inside joke previously done in other works such as at the Conservatory 1902(cat vs mouse) The Banquet of the Starved 1915. Awinbourne Anna, James Ensor, Artistic Critique, New York: The Museum of Modern Art, 2009. (New York: The Museum of Modern Art, 2009) .

100 Dump Alfred Finch (1854-1930), Fernand Khnopff (1858-1921), and Theo van Rysselberghe (18621926). (New York: Harry N. Abrams) 36. Mermaid his moms shops with many strange obgects Kula, Katherine Virginia. Me and My Circle: James Ensor in the Twentieth Century. University of Maryland, College Park, 2010 United States -- MarylandProQuest Dissertations & Theses (PQDT). 27 May 2012 . 7-9 The importance of this work He liked to do duplicates of many of his works and this one was one of them 1896 in chalk Janssens Jacques, James Ensor, A Biography. New York: Crown Publishers, 1978. (New York: Crown Publishers, 1978) 20. Arbitrary colors People who inspired him Ensor James, Theatre of Masks, A Social Commentary. Great Brittan: Lund Humphries Publishers Ltd, 1997. (Great Brittan: Lund Humphries Publishers Ltd, 1997)98 The artists Ensor admired Turner, Constable, Crome Gainsborough Hogarth Rowlandson

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