The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Art and Artists (157 page)

(1468?–1527).
Netherlandish painter born in Leiden, where he was the leading artist of his day. He is thought to have trained in Brussels and seems to have returned home through Antwerp. Although his style shows the influence of the Italianate tendencies prevalent at Antwerp, Engelbrechtsz.'s work has a deeper intensity of feeling that is
Gothic
rather than
Mannerist
in spirit. Contorted linear rhythms and resonant colouring characterize his highly personal art, which is closer to the
Master of the Virgo inter Virgines
than to any Antwerp artist. The altarpieces of
The Crucifixion
and
The Lamentation
in the Municipal Museum, Leiden, are typical of his work.
Lucas van Leyden
was his greatest pupil and tends to overshadow his achievements. The other pupils in his large studio included his three sons,
Pieter
,
Cornelis
, and
Lucas
, as well as Lucas van Leyden's brother, Aertgen .

 
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English , Michael
.

See
SUPERREALISM
.

 
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engraving
.

Term applied in its broadest sense to the various processes of cutting a design into a plate or block of metal or wood, and to the prints taken from these plates or blocks (see
PRINT
for a classification of these processes). In everyday usage, the term more usually applies to one of the processes, known more technically as
line engraving
.

 
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(1860–1949).
Belgian painter and printmaker. One of the most original artists of his time, Ensor was one of the formative influences on
Expressionism
and was claimed by the
Surrealists
as a forerunner, but his work defies classification within any school or group. He was born at Ostend, where his parents (his father was English) kept a souvenir shop, and apart from his training in Brussels rarely left his home town. His early works were mainly bourgeois interiors painted in a thick and vigorous technique. When several were rejected by the Salon in Brussels in 1883, Ensor joined the progressive group Les
Vingt
. During the 1880s his subject-matter changed and he began to introduce the fantastic and macabre elements which are chiefly associated with his name. He made much use of carnival masks, grotesque figures, skeletons, and bizarre and monstrous imaginings with a gruesome and ironic humour reminiscent of
Bosch
and
Bruegel
. The interest in masks probably originated in his parents' shop, but he was also one of the first European artists who appreciated African masks. His paintings, and even more his graphic work, took on a didactic or satirical flavour involving social or religious criticism and his most famous work, the huge
Entry of Christ into Brussels
(Getty Museum , Malibu , 1888), provoked such an outburst of criticism among his associates that he was expelled from Les Vingt. After this Ensor became a recluse and his outlook became misanthropic. His work changed little after about 1900, when he was content to repeat his favourite themes. In 1929 he was created a baron when his
Entry of Christ into Brussels
was first exhibited in public. There is an Ensor museum in Ostend.

 
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entartete Kunst
.

See
DEGENERATE ART
.

 
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environment art
.

Type of art in which the artist creates a three-dimensional space pre-programmed or mechanically energized in order to enclose the spectator and involve him in a multiplicity of sensory stimulations—visual, auditory, kinetic, tactile, and sometimes olfactory. Environment art, which began to establish itself in the 1960s, was closely linked with spectator involvement, and environments were deliberately planned with a view to forcing the spectator to participate in the
happenings
or the ‘game’. Allen
Kaprow
, who also pioneered the happening, is sometimes credited with originating environment art, and other leading exponents include
Kienholz
and
Oldenburg
.