Marche des Rotariens Ostendais

1929

Not on view

Music was a lifelong passion for Ensor. He played piano by ear from a young age but never learned music theory or scales. When he began composing in 1905, he relied on musician friends to transcribe his pieces. After joining the Ostend chapter of the Rotary Club in 1927, Ensor composed a joyful march to mark the occasion. Published two years later, his design for the cover of the sheet music features the three-key coat of arms of Ostend within the gearwheel emblem of the Rotary Club. Sinuous, nymph-like figures radiate from the cogs of the wheel and enliven the composition, while below, a lighthouse, another symbol of the seaside town of Ostend, emits diagonal dotted beams of light. This copy of the music was inscribed and gifted to Lucien Schwob, a self-taught Swiss artist, who befriended Ensor when he began regularly visiting Ostend in 1934, eventually publishing a monograph on him.

Artwork Details

Object Information

Overview

Signatures, Inscriptions, and Markings

Provenance

Title: Marche des Rotariens Ostendais
Artist: James Ensor (Belgian, Ostend 1860–1949 Ostend)
Dedicatee: Lucien Schwob (Swiss, La Chaux-de-Fonds 1895–1985 La Chaux-de-Fonds)
Publisher: J. De Vleeschouwer , Evere-Brussels
Date: 1929
Medium: Lithograph printed in red ink
Dimensions: 13 3/4 × 10 5/8 in. (35 × 27 cm) [folded]
Classifications: Prints, Ephemera
Credit Line: Gift of Emmanuel Benador, 2026
Object Number: 2026.602
Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints

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The Grotesque Musicians, James Ensor Belgian, Etching on zinc; first state; hand-colored with red, blue, green, and yellow watercolor on Arches laid paper — The Grotesque Musicians
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