Christ’s Entry into Jerusalem 1885

Editor: We are looking at "Christ’s Entry into Jerusalem," a charcoal drawing made in 1885 by James Ensor. The drawing has a really intense and almost unsettling feel to it. There are so many faces crammed into the frame. What can you tell us about how it relates to its historical context? Curator: Ensor lived and worked in Belgium. Brussels became a vibrant cultural center by the mid-1800's but remained highly segregated socially and politically. Consider how Ensor used imagery from his time. Have you ever seen similar uses of crowds in political cartoons from this period? Editor: Not immediately, but I can see the connection. There is something carnivalesque and critical about the way the crowd is drawn that aligns with how contemporary political illustrators lampooned figures of power and society in general. How did these trends affect the function and reception of art like Ensor’s? Curator: That is precisely the kind of interpretation a social historian brings. Art functioned more and more like popular visual media during this time; images moved through print and public spaces. Artists had to grab and hold an audience's attention using shock and humor. How does this function in Ensor’s broader artistic approach? Editor: Well, Ensor's work is Expressionistic; it uses exaggeration and distortion. This may serve a didactic function for both aesthetics and societal awareness purposes. But would this aim have been well-received at the time? Curator: Contemporary art critics often resisted avant-garde artistic styles at the time, making institutional validation harder for the artwork. He turned away from making pieces that might get purchased or accepted, towards works of visual protest like this drawing. Editor: Fascinating! It gives the artwork a new depth, seeing it as an active agent within the political landscape. Curator: Absolutely, it allows you to read this entry as more than a historical depiction. Ensor offers it to us as an invitation for an evaluation of what social movements can really achieve.