Fishing for Light with Brushes

The famous Belgian painter James Ensor (1860-1949) defies categorization: realist, avant-gardist, impressionist, modernist – he was all of these things. So in ‘Fishing for Light with Brushes’ Ingrid Godon and Paul de Moor do not try to present his life and work in a traditional way. On the contrary, as a reader you are submerged in Ensor’s thoughts. In brief poetic texts, De Moor offers snapshots of the artist’s life. We see him as a child talking about the masks and monsters from his mother’s gift shop that would influence him throughout his career. Later he discovers his lifelong love of light. He would always strive to capture its beauty.

Rather than attempting to be informative, this extraordinary picture book lifts the veil here and there to stimulate curiosity. In the final pages a brief biography gives some concrete information about Ensor. Godon has of course been inspired in creating her enchanting and often delicate illustrations by the master himself: masks, skeletons and grotesque faces populate the pages. Like Ensor, Godon experiments flat out; every page is created with a different technique, moving from woodcut, pencil, coloured pencil and paint to collage and embroidery. She shows herself at the height of her powers in this remarkable book.