Notes

Published by Artist Proof Studio, this work from the Triumphs and Laments (2016) project was printed from 20 brass plates as an edition of 10 plus 7 proofs. A Certificate of Authenticity and notes about the production process accompany the lot.

Triumphs and Laments was a monumental ‘drawing’ project by William Kentridge using large-scale stencils and pressure-cleaning equipment to create images reflecting the artist’s personal interpretation of the history of the city on the walls that line the Tiber River in Rome. Kentridge’s technique was carried out in sequential steps, first from drawings made on paper (in charcoal and then in ink) to their translation on the travertine walls [using a technique] that subtracts the dark layer left on the stone blocks by pollution, vegetation and micro-organisms, through washing around the cut stencils with water. According to the author Gabriele Guercio, the figures’ monumental size (their triumph) is inseparable from their precarious state (their lament) since the frieze will inevitably fade away.¹

1. Gabriele Guercio, in Carlos Basualdo (2018) William Kentridge: Triumph and Laments, Cologne: Walther König.