Author Archives: m.yeung1

The Belgium artist, James Ensor, was born in 1860 and spent most of his life in his hometown Ostend where he died in 1949. Ensor is considered by the MoMA to be “a socially engaged and self-critical artist involved with the issues of his times.”

“Masks Confronting Death” is an oil on canvas painting displaying a colorful group of mask wearing folks gathering around and peering at the skeletal Death. The top portion of the painting are shades of white which bolsters the central  figure of Death who is also adorned in white. The colorful carnival-like atmosphere appears ironic as it surrounds Death.

The painting while bizarre looking cannot be truly classified as Surrealism, but it somewhat draws upon that. It’s more of Expressionism where it presents irony in the fictionalized Death who is being physically confronted. One would think Death is omnipotent or even scary, but Ensor’s painting suggests otherwise As stated in the MoMA’s description of the painting, this may be a “reflection of the artist’s preoccupation with his own mortality.”

A medium-sized painting in the middle on a modest part of a white wall, “Masks Confronting Death” blends in well to the room with its own use of white. I noticed a few people briefly acknowledging it and taking it in. While bizarre looking, it did not make me tag it as Surrealist.

What drew me to this painting was how unusual the painting’s scene appeared and yet how it almost blended into the wall. The masked people all watching a skeletal figure was sort of mesmerizing and upon reading the piece’s description, it became almost silly. It was silly in the context of how ironic the situation was. I imagined to myself being in Death’s shoes surrounded by people looking like partygoers. This use of irony led me to ultimately favor “Masks Confronting Death” over the other works at MoMA.

I have a few of questions pertaining to this painting. One of which has to do with the small white mask or face at the far left which is concealed into the white background. Another is: how does Death feel in this situation.

Sources:

https://www.moma.org/calendar/exhibitions/312

Hello all. It took me a while to figure out how to create a new post here. It’s nice to be here and I’m excited to read and dissect various types of literature from around the world.

My name is Maxwell Yeung. I’m an American-born Chinese. I lived in New York for my entire life. I was born somewhere in Queens, but I moved to Long Island shortly. Therefore I feel more comfortable identifying as a Long Islander. This is the first term of my sophomore year here at Baruch, I have gotten a lot more used to the city by now. I currently live in the school dormitories and I ride the 6 train to get to Baruch.

I spend most of my free time playing video games, talking to old friends, and travelling whenever possible. I’ve been to far places like Japan, Egypt, Mexico, Canada, and Hawaii In the near future I hope to travel to China or something. I’m interested in studying abroad. The best things about travelling in my opinion are enjoying the cuisine, walking around taking in the scenery and atmosphere, and just relaxing. When I’m stuck in New York I’ll probably be on my laptop playing games like CS:GO or Fortnite. I’m pretty bad at those games though.

In terms of personality I’m pretty introverted and lazy. If I do start working on something though, I always make sure I finish it. So that’s nice I guess. I’m a pretty bad procrastinator so I’ll be up the night before the deadline rapidly typing up a paper. I’ve been trying to change that, but I’m honestly just too used to it. I will admit that the adrenaline from knowing a 8-page research paper due in 4 hours gets the job done albeit poorly. I plan on majoring in Accounting, but depending on how I feel I might switch to Finance or International Business. My parents suggested International Business, but having to learn a second language is pretty scary to me as ironic as that sounds. I know a little bit of Mandarin (enough to survive I believe) but I need to continue learning more of it.

That’s pretty much it as I’ve reached a neat 373 word count as of now. For whom it may concern, thanks for reading and have a good one.