Notes

The processional scene is an important motif in William Kentridge’s grand corpus. It claims diverse influences. The earliest processions appear in his first stop-animation film, Johannesburg, 2nd Greatest City after Paris (1989), which references the political street marches ubiquitous at the time in Johannesburg. But Kentridge also cites the revolutionary films of Sergei Eisenstein as influence, also Kazimir Malevich’s painting Black Square (1915), which he interprets as an abstract rendering of the masses participating in the Russian Revolution.¹

Kentridge is particularly adept at translating his crowds scenes and mass processions across various media. They have appeared in arcing, banner-like drawings, bronze sculpture and films with real-life protagonists. His “frieze” film, More Sweetly Play the Dance (2015), on view at Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa, Cape Town, offers a recent example. This lot showcases Kentridge’s abundant skill with printmaking. Kentridge used maps as the printed ground for his prints onto which the figures were projected. The initial proofs featured coloured aquatint, a difficult process that led to the maps being printed in monochrome, with hand colouring in watercolour afterwards.² Part of duo, these prints were inspired by a 1999 project in Amsterdam where Kentridge projected fresco-like images onto the ceiling of the City Hall.

1. Mark Rosenthal, William Kentridge: Five Themes, San Francisco: SFMoMA, 2009, page 47.

2. Bronwyn Law-Viljoen (ed.), William Kentridge Prints, Johannesburg: David Krut, 2006, page 102.

Literature

Susan Stewart and David Krut. (2006) William Kentridge Prints, Johannesburg: David Krut Publishing. Another print from the edition illustrated on page 105.