WILLIAM KENTRIDGE | 4 FILMS

Reserves

Lot Closed

March 7, 06:35 PM GMT

Estimate

10,000 - 15,000 USD

Lot Details

Description

WILLIAM KENTRIDGE

b.1955

4 FILMS

signed on the cover; titled and dated 03/01/93 on the VHS tape label

VHS tape with 25:32 minute VHS NTSC DUB film, sound component and silkscreen drawing cover

Overall: 8 by 4⅝ by 1⅛ in. (20.3 by 11.7 by 2.8 cm.)

Executed in 1993, this work is from an edition of 25.

This work is in excellent condition overall. The VHS tape is in working order. There are minor handling marks and surface scratches to the inside of the cover. There are no apparent scratches or markings to the tape or outside cover.

The lot is sold in the condition it is in at the time of sale. The condition report is provided to assist you with assessing the condition of the lot and is for guidance only. Any reference to condition in the condition report for the lot does not amount to a full description of condition. The images of the lot form part of the condition report for the lot provided by Sotheby's. Certain images of the lot provided online may not accurately reflect the actual condition of the lot. In particular, the online images may represent colours and shades which are different to the lot's actual colour and shades. The condition report for the lot may make reference to particular imperfections of the lot but you should note that the lot may have other faults not expressly referred to in the condition report for the lot or shown in the online images of the lot. The condition report may not refer to all faults, restoration, alteration or adaptation because Sotheby's is not a professional conservator or restorer but rather the condition report is a statement of opinion genuinely held by Sotheby's. For that reason, Sotheby's condition report is not an alternative to taking your own professional advice regarding the condition of the lot.

Ruth Bloom Gallery

Acquired from the above by the present owner

William Kentridge is a multidisciplinary artist whose practice spans drawing, prints, animated film and even intricate theatrical performances. His films, of which the present work is an early example, involve highly detailed stop-motion. Typically, and is the case here, a single drawing is repeatedly altered by hand, lending a sense of movement and plotline distinct to Kentridge’s oeuvre. Kentridge was raised by two prominent civil rights lawyers who became famous for their defense of victims of apartheid. As such, and in addition as an ethnically Jewish white man in South Africa, he comes from a distinctly unique position to observe the past and present sociopolitical anxieties that permeate his home country.

There are four films in this piece which span a total of over twenty-five minutes. The outside cover of the VHS is a screenprint. As in many of Kentridge’s films, sound plays a component. Bodies and landscapes fizzle in and out of the scene, punctuated by words evocative of the proletariat. Kentridge’s work has been widely exhibited, including in solo exhibitions at Museum of Modern Art, New York; Hirschhorn Museum, Washington, D.C.; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; and the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia.