Capture of a Strange Town (Prise d'une ville étrange)

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James Ensor

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Capture of a Strange Town (Prise d'une ville étrange)

James Ensor. Capture of a Strange Town (Prise d'une ville étrange). 1888. Etching, composition: 6 3/4 x 9 1/8" (17.2 x 23.2 cm); plate: 7 1/16 x 9 3/8" (17.9 x 23.8 cm); sheet: 14 x 18 7/8" (35.6 x 47.9 cm). Publisher: The artist, Brussels. Printer: Léon Evely, Brussels. unknown. Purchase. © 2013 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / SABAM, Brussels

Wunderkammer: A Century of Curiosities

July 30–November 10, 2008

Ensor's bizarre visions were fueled, from early childhood, by the attic above his family's souvenir shop. He described it as "dark and frightening . . . full of horrible spiders, curios, seashells, plants and animals from distant seas, beautiful chinaware, rust and blood-colored effects, red and white coral, monkeys, turtles, dried mermaids."