Overview
With a searing body of work ranging from drawings and films to prints, tapestries, and sculptures, William Kentridge (b. 1955) has offered a fresh and distinctive glimpse of the daily lives of South Africans—both during the apartheid regime and after its collapse. This extraordinary catalogue, produced in close collaboration with the artist, investigates the five primary themes that have engaged Kentridge over the course of his career:
- Soho and Felix: works featuring Kentridge’s best-known characters, the businessman Soho Eckstein and his alter ego, the anxiety-ridden Felix Teitlebaum.
- Ubu and the Procession: inspired by Ubu Roi, these projects reflect the excitement, conflict, and rapid social changes in post-apartheid South Africa.
- Artist in the Studio: an examination of Kentridge’s practice and his emergence as an installation artist.
- The Magic Flute: work related to the artist’s set designs for Mozart’s opera.
- The Nose: Kentridge’s most recent production, including work inspired by his staging of the Shostakovich opera for New York’s Metropolitan Opera in spring 2010.
Kentridge has created a DVD especially for this publication; it includes fragments from significant film projects (both known and newly completed) as well as commentary that sheds further light on the artist’s work.
Synopsis
With a searing body of work ranging from drawings and films to prints, tapestries, and sculptures, William Kentridge (b. 1955) has offered a fresh and distinctive glimpse of the daily lives of South Africans—both during the apartheid regime and after its collapse. This extraordinary catalogue, produced in close collaboration with the artist, investigates the five primary themes that have engaged Kentridge over the course of his career:
- Soho and Felix: works featuring Kentridge’s best-known characters, the businessman Soho Eckstein and his alter ego, the anxiety-ridden Felix Teitlebaum.
- Ubu and the Procession: inspired by Ubu Roi, these projects reflect the excitement, conflict, and rapid social changes in post-apartheid South Africa.
- Artist in the Studio: an examination of Kentridge’s practice and his emergence as an installation artist.
- The Magic Flute: work related to the artist’s set designs for Mozart’s opera.
- The Nose: Kentridge’s most recent production, including work inspired by his staging of the Shostakovich opera for New York’s Metropolitan Opera in spring 2010.
Kentridge has created a DVD especially for this publication; it includes fragments from significant film projects (both known and newly completed) as well as commentary that sheds further light on the artist’s work.
Martha Smith - Library Journal
In the past, studying the work of contemporary multimedia artists meant relying mainly on photos and film stills, since videotapes and DVDs, though available, weren't widely distributed. This book solves this problem by including a DVD of the artist's films. William Kentridge (b. 1955) is a South African draftsman, actor, filmmaker, and designer. The catalog of this international exhibition (eight venues, 2009 11) includes not only close to 300 illustrations of his work, divided into five thematic areas, but also a DVD of more than 20 short films, including studio footage and fragments from major film projects. Other features include essays by the exhibition's curators, a chronology, and a selected bibliography. VERDICT The combination of catalog and DVD gives a fuller picture of the artist and his work. The only comparable book is the 1999 volume in Phaidon's "Contemporary Artists" series, but this one is more up-to-date; highly recommended for students of contemporary art.—Martha Smith, Elmira Coll. Lib., NY
Editorials
Library Journal
In the past, studying the work of contemporary multimedia artists meant relying mainly on photos and film stills, since videotapes and DVDs, though available, weren't widely distributed. This book solves this problem by including a DVD of the artist's films. William Kentridge (b. 1955) is a South African draftsman, actor, filmmaker, and designer. The catalog of this international exhibition (eight venues, 2009–11) includes not only close to 300 illustrations of his work, divided into five thematic areas, but also a DVD of more than 20 short films, including studio footage and fragments from major film projects. Other features include essays by the exhibition's curators, a chronology, and a selected bibliography. VERDICT The combination of catalog and DVD gives a fuller picture of the artist and his work. The only comparable book is the 1999 volume in Phaidon's "Contemporary Artists" series, but this one is more up-to-date; highly recommended for students of contemporary art.—Martha Smith, Elmira Coll. Lib., NY
—Martha Smith