Artist: Kentridge, William

William Kentridge is known for evocative prints, charcoal drawings, animated films, and theater work that reflect the complexity of a South African society brutalized by decades of apartheid. He was born in Johannesburg in 1955 to prominent lawyers known for defending victims of apartheid. After taking a degree in Politics and African Studies he turned to the visual arts. He was also active in the theatre, studied mime, and worked as a television art director early in his career. Kentridge has exhibited internationally to great acclaim and his work has been featured in such important international festivals as the Venice Biennale, Documenta, and Carnegie International. It has been exhibited and collected by major museums around the globe including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Museum of Modern Art, and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York.

Scribe 1

William Kentridge (South African b.1955), "Scribe 1", 2011, photogravure, dry point, and burnishing on pescia white paper, 11 × 13 inches overall, edition of 30, published by the Brodsky Center at PAFA, Philadelphia.

Scribe 3

William Kentridge (South African b. 1955), "Scribe 3", 2011, photogravure, dry point, and burnishing on pescia white paper, 11 × 13 inches overall, edition of 30, published by the Brodsky Center at PAFA, Philadelphia.

Scribe 2

William Kentridge (South African b. 1955) "Scribe 2", 2011, photogravure, dry point and burnishing on pescia white paper, 11 × 13 inches overall, edition of 30, published by the Brodsky Center at PAFA, Philadelphia.

Stereoscopic Suite

William Kentridge (South African b. 1955), "Stereoscopic Suite", 2008, a portfolio of six stereoscopic photogravures with a stereoscope, individually titled- "A Cat in the Meat Trade", "Étant Donné, Larder", "Melancholia, Memento Mori", and "Still Life", 13 1/2 x 22 1/2 inches each, edition of 50, published by the Brodsky Center at PAFA, Philadelphia.

“I am interested,” Kentridge says, “in machines that make us aware of the process of seeing—seeing being a metaphor of how we understand the world. When we look through a stereoscopic viewer, we are aware that we have two completely flat images and that it is our brain that is constructing an illusion of three-dimensional […]