Kentridge at the Royal Academy in London

South African art audiences can often get a bit parochial and isolationist, either in relation to the metropolitan centres of Europe and the US, or even relative to the rest of Africa. One artist that just about everyone in SA does know is William Kentridge. And rightly so — he’s approaching the status of national treasure, his work across different mediums (including film, sculpture, drawing, printmaking, theatre and opera) and his fierce erudition commanding widespread recognition and respect.  

But what isolationist SA art lovers don’t perhaps get is how much of a global star Kentridge is. Currently he has five solo exhibitions running concurrently across the world — in SA, the UK, Europe and the US. The span of different solo shows points to his constant and prolific productivity and restless, driven imagination.

One particularly prestigious exhibition is currently on show at the Royal Academy of the Arts in London. In keeping with their practice of showing a globally significant artist in their Main Galleries in the autumn, a major Kentridge retrospective is on there until mid-December.

This is the biggest exhibition of the artist’s work to date in the UK and comprises examples from the full range of Kentridge’s multimedia practise across some 40 years so far. Some pieces were made specifically for this exhibition, including some in situ drawing made by the artist directly on the 400-year-old walls of the gallery. 

As is usually the case when they are exhibited, the films from the ‘Drawings for Projection’ series of stop-motion animations are a focus. Five of the 11 films are being screened, all of which deal in the history of Kentridge’s leitmotif, his home city of Johannesburg. An ironic touch is the presence on the show of a large drawing from the most recent film City Deep which depicts the dereliction and collapse of the city’s municipal gallery, The Johannesburg Art Gallery, as seen by his leading character in the animations, mining industrialist Soho Eckstein. In real life the gallery was designed by a past president of the Royal Academy in 1915, Sir Edwin Lutyens. 

Drawing, Kentridge’s métier, predominates the show however, with early satirical and expressionist pieces from the 1980s in one room leading up to a recent series of large-scale ink and charcoal drawings of trees, again a Johannesburg trademark (it is the most forested urban centre in the world with no natural bodies of water).

A short overview cannot do justice to an exhibition of this magnitude by an artist of such international standing. Those who aren’t aware of that status locally should perhaps be a little more interested generally in how local artists, spearheaded by Kentridge, are doing in a wider global context. With an ongoing international presence and reputation for the likes of Zanele Muholi, Igshaan Adams, Cinga Samson and many others, it’s a reason to be cheerful and proud to be South African. There are precious few of those these days!  

Kentridge Through the RA Gift Shop

Perhaps we can only acknowledge that someone is properly famous these days when they give rise to image rights disputes and merchandising opportunities. Mercifully, Kentridge has not gone the social media route for any of this (he doesn’t have to) but on the merch front, he’s doing all right thank you very much! The following creative merch opportunities were spotted at the Royal Academy’s gift shop:

Drawings for Projection beads: Marigold Beads is a co-operative that specialises in exceptional hand-loomed beadwork. The RA Shop has collaborated with Kentridge and the master beaders in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, to develop three series of beaded necklaces, interpreting different works from the show, specifically the ‘Felix in Exile’ film. They’re on offer for a paltry £95 each, and can be found in Joburg for less, just saying...

Branded Kentridge Charcoal Sticks: This brilliant idea is 100% genuine! The batch in London was created especially for the RA Shop in Mpumalanga, SA, and each box of charcoal sticks is handmade by artist and printmaker Simon Attwood, who has been making William’s favourite charcoal for use in his practice for many years. The sticks are made from sustainably sourced Sesbania, Erythrina and Mulberry woods.

Lastly, and most sexily, & fragrance: & (the ampersand is a motif used in Kentridge’s sculptures, often at large scale) is a bespoke unisex fragrance developed directly with William Kentridge in collaboration with Floris London, the oldest family-run perfumer in Britain. I can only give over to the splendour of the shop’s own copy for the fragrance on this one: 

“The opening of this fragrance is fresh, citrusy and spicy. The notes of bergamot, black pepper and cassis transport us to the vibrant greenery on the way to Kentridge’s studio in the heart of SA. Hidden beneath watery floral notes is the scent of charcoal and pencils, brushes and ink. Undulating from fresh to deep notes, this fragrance is rooted in the powdery scent of paper, in combination with the woody notes of musk. Produced in a limited edition of 200, each bottle is hand-numbered, presented in a gift box and wrapped in a custom double-sided paper.” It’s all yours for only £300 per bottle!