The Flaying / Flaying a Convict

1888
Etching and drypoint in black on simili-Japan paper
Plate: 13.2 x 9.1 cm
Sheet: 29.6 x 23.9 cm
Signed in pencil : James Ensor 1888
Titled in pencil : L'écorché
Dedication in pencil : Pour Madame Laure Stiennon de Neuville / JEnsor

+32 (0)9 281 11 70

Gift copy to Madame Laure Stiennon de Neuville.
Laure Stiennon-de Neuville (1886 - after 1940) was the daughter of the Liège art critic and patron Albert de Neuville, a key figure in the Belgian art world and a confidant of James Ensor. She married Alfred (Freddy) Stiennon in 1912 and became known as Madame Laure Stiennon-de Neuville. Through her father, she grew up in an environment in which Ensor, Rassenfosse, and other avant-garde artists played a central role. The present copy of “L'écorché” was personally dedicated to her by Ensor, which underlines not only her family ties with Albert de Neuville but also her own role as mediator and custodian of Ensor's oeuvre.

Drypoint and etching on simili-Japan paper, an impression of the rare first state (of two), signed and titled in pencil, countersigned in pencil verso, with wide margins, in very good condition.

Antwerp, Museum Plantin-Moretus/ Print Room, inv. no. PK.MP.04950.
Ghent, Museum of Fine Arts, inv. no. 1998-B-57-2.

Taevenier, A., Graphic work of James Ensor (Ledeberg: Erasmus Ledeberg, 1973), 149, no. 57 (ill.).