“Masquerade, Makeup & Ensor,” a new exhibition in Antwerp at MoMu challenges the hierarchies that separate fine and applied art and fashion from beauty (hair and makeup). The occasion for doing so is a city-wide celebration of the work of James Ensor, who thickly smeared paint on expressionist canvases with themes that challenged the status quo. One of the distinctive characteristics of the artist’s work is his use of masks, which can reveal or conceal. This dichotomy is also central to fashion and beauty, where garments, gels, and potions allow for the construction of a public-facing self; hence we speak of putting our best face, or foot, forward. “Ensor’s ideas on masquerade, (false) coquetry, seduction, deception, the artificial and the ephemeral can resonate with a contemporary audience,” writes MoMu curator Kaat Debo. An audience, it should be noted, that is not only bombarded with incalculable numbers of (doctored) images, but also gels, creams, fillers and surgeries that were unknown in Ensor’s time.
In this multidisciplinary exhibition, work by fine artists, including Genieve Figgis and Tschelba Self, shares space with hair and makeup artists, including Pat McGrath, Julien d’Ys, and Peter Philips. A good deal of space in the exhibition is dedicated to Inge Grognard, a hometown hero and industry icon, who came up and worked with Martin Margiela. She continues to do runway work, notably for Demna at Balenciaga. With her partner, photographer Ronald Stoops (and others) she also creates memorable editorials. The museum partnered with Beauty Papers, a platform pushing against the restrictive barriers of beauty standards, on the exhibition, which resulted in, among other things, a film of Grognard at home by Casper Sejersen. It’s there, the artist said on a Zoom, that creativity lives. “My house is very important for me because all the things I’m surrounded with is [where] I’m getting inspired every day. There is a kind of dark side, there’s also romanticism in it, there is a garden, there are cats, there are fish…” Inspiration journals from chez Grognard are on show in Antwerp, as are makeup brushes and other tools of the trade.
Swipe right below to see some of the work featured in the exhibition and catalog.
Ahead of the Balenciaga show, the artist took time out to answer five questions.
How did you start working with beauty—and with Martin Margiela?
“I finished high school I was 18 and then I could make my own choice. My parents wanted me to go to university, but I really wanted to do something with fashion. And so I went to school in Antwerp, [there Martin Margiela and I] saw each other each day. Through Martin, I met also the Antwerp Six. I was attracted to makeup, but I was attracted to clothes already when I was like 12-years-old, so it was a matter of ending up [doing something] that was linked to fashion, and that was makeup.”
“[Martin’s belief was that] the clothes have to speak for themselves… [Sometimes] the eyes were covered by the hair, sometimes the models had masks; we also did big makeup sometimes. Of course the people walking for him were important, but the most important part was the clothes.”
What’s your approach to your work?
“I’m not inspired by beautiful flowers—of course I love them, but that’s not really what inspires me—its more how people are. Not that I want to compare myself with Ensor, but he went into the psychology of people. Those masks were to hide, but also to bring out the deeper side, the darker side, the ugly side. When I touch people it’s like I feel immediately in a way what I have to do with that person: be sensitive, a little bit dangerous… And all those possibilities are quite fascinating. What can I do with them?”
“My work is quite organic. It’s like I have moods in my stomach and then I try to express them. I can go back and look at what I did in the ’90s and afterwards, and read what my mood was. Back then I had an angriness with fashion, so my way to bring it out was putting people in a space with a mask, with a fake smile.”
“And then of course I am supposed to make people more beautiful, but what is more beautiful? Even for me, that’s a big question. When you feel bad and you have a hangover, you can put on red lipstick, you look good because it takes all the attention from the rest of your face, people see your red lips. That’s a trick. I am a makeup artist, but on the other hand, I’m not only there to make people beautiful. Whatever I do with them, even when it’s only a cream, they have to feel good, first of all. At the end, when they have to be in front of a camera, they have to feel good, and that’s the whole game you play. Whatever happened in their life just before the pictures or the week before or whatever, we are there in a way to make them feel more comfortable and to bring out what they want to bring out.”
Do you think we are more or less masked in a digital world?
“Before, plastic surgery was only for the very rich, and now when you have a little bit of money, everybody can have it. And then you have social media, seeing all those filtered images. But on the other side, rawness is also appreciated. Pamela Anderson coming out makeup-less was a big statement—even if there was makeup, but really, really minimal—because she’s very famous. I thought that was really brave. So what I want to say is, okay, you have masks, you have a lot of makeup, you have the fillers and whatever; everybody wants to look beautiful, but you also have people who are really fed up with that. They just want to show how they are. At a certain moment, enough is enough.
In what way has the industry changed since the ’80s?
“That’s difficult to say. When I started there were the big eyebrows—remember Comme des Garçons?—everybody had big eyebrows then. It’s the same with fashion; a long time ago you had the mini, midi, the maxi… and [people said] this color is the color for next season. Back then you had trends; there aren’t trends anymore, and I think that’s a good thing, all those things are mixed up now.”
You’re asked about your work with Margiela all the time. What do you think was unique about what you did together?
“We had Mugler and Montana and before that Yves Saint Laurent, and then the Japanese designers started. I think they were very important for all of us because they broke all the rules, makeup-wise, face-wise—everything. We really wanted to do something that was not done before. And I think in a way, what we did in fashion and with Martin was quite new. When I look through all the things that we did, of course you can put a date on it, but it’s not dated for me.”
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.