Portrait of My Aunt 1886 - 1888

James Ensor drew this portrait of his aunt using materials as modest as the setting itself: paper and pencil. The frenetic, agitated lines, though, give the drawing an intensity that belies its humble origins. The subject is framed by wallpaper patterned with flowers, a swagged curtain, and an ornate mantlepiece, complete with plates and portraits. It’s a claustrophobic interior. Ensor renders all these details with the same attentive energy as his aunt’s face; if anything, more so. The drawing is a tour-de-force of technique, generating light and dark through intense cross-hatching. It’s also an exercise in empathy. Ensor has taken enormous pains to describe his aunt’s physical presence, slumped in her chair, her hands clasped, her brow furrowed. The drawing insists on her dignity, even as the setting implies a life hemmed in by the constraints of bourgeois domesticity. This is where the importance of materials, making, and context come into play, challenging traditional distinctions between fine art and craft, to allow for an understanding of the work's full meaning.