About the strange artist James Ensor (1860-1949), who embodies Flemish expressionism much like Edvard Munch the Nordic. An oddball and outsider who lived his whole life in the Belgian city of Ostend, far from all -isms and aesthetic doctrines. During his active years, he was despised by critics and audiences. Long before his time, he heralds the whole of 20th-century modernism.—SFdb