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The Cathedral
Artist: James Ensor (Belgian, 1860-1949)
Date: 1886
Dimensions:
Image: 9 5/8 × 7 1/4 in. (24.4 × 18.4 cm)
Sheet: 18 7/8 × 13 7/8 in. (47.9 × 35.2 cm)
Medium: Etching
Classification: Prints
Credit Line: Frederick B. and Kate L. Shoemaker Fund
Object number: 2017.4
Label Text:Created in 1886, shortly after James Ensor began making prints, The Cathedral is remarkable for both its painstaking detail and its visual tension. The looming, oversized cathedral rising into the sky contrasts with the mass of tiny people spreading horizontally across the print. This contrast might recall tensions between church and state, institution and individual.
The Cathedral’s cramped composition, with buildings and people extending off the page, mimics Ensor’s own cluttered work environment. His parents’ home in Ostend, Belgium, also functioned as a tourist shop, and Ensor set up his studio in the attic, his art supplies surrounded by miscellaneous books, figurines, and shells.
The Cathedral’s cramped composition, with buildings and people extending off the page, mimics Ensor’s own cluttered work environment. His parents’ home in Ostend, Belgium, also functioned as a tourist shop, and Ensor set up his studio in the attic, his art supplies surrounded by miscellaneous books, figurines, and shells.
Not on view