twenty lift ground aquatint etchings printed on 100% Hemp Phumani handmade paper, each etching mounted on raw cotton cloth folded (as a map) and housed in a handmade box covered in raw cotton cloth

Artwork date: 2016
Signature details: signed and numbered E.V. 5/10 in red conté along the bottom edge
Edition: from an edition of 10 plus 1 AP
Exhibited: Annandale Galleries, Sydney, LULU and TRIUMPHS AND LAMENTS, 7 March to 21 April 2018, another example of the same edition exhibited.; Goodman Gallery, Cape Town, That Which We Do Not Remember, 30 November to 13 January 2018, another example from the edition exhibited.; Marion Goodman Gallery, Paris, O Sentimental Machine, 15 March to 15 April 2017, another example from the same edition exhibited.; Artist Proof Studio at Cape Town Art Fair 2016, Stand No. E6, another example of the same edition exhibited.

(1)

sheet size: 164 x 151.5 cm; potfolio: 45 x 35 x 5 cm

Provenance:

Artist Proof Studio, Johannesburg.

Notes:

This large-scale work follows William Kentridge’s 2016 project Triumphs and Laments in Rome. The creation of this monumental print is a magnificent and complex technical achievement.

The image for The Triumph of Bacchus, also referred to as the “Collapsing Horse” is derived from a marble sarcophagus showing a bacchic procession (160-70CE, in the Musei Capitolini, Rome). The picture is drawn across 20 brass plates and printed on hand-made paper, made from raw Chinese hemp fibre produced by Phumani Papermill at the University of Johannesburg. The prints are then – through the etching press – mounted on raw cotton cloth. This allows them to assume the rough texture of the cloth, which is finally folded using the format of a folded map and placed in a hand-made clamshell box. The edition is limited to ten and Kentridge has hand-coloured each piece individually, using ink washes to uniquely join the folds between the paper panels.

The Triumphs and Laments project began in 2002 when fellow artist Kristin Jones invited Kentridge to think about doing a project on the walls of the Tiber River in Rome. Starting with the idea of a frieze and some drawings based on Trajan’s column, the project culminated in a monumental, 500m frieze along the 12 meter high walls of the Tiber. The work ran between Ponte Sisto and Ponte Mazzini in the heart of Rome, and for Kentridge, it became about the space between the Vatican and the original Jewish ghetto established in the late Renaissance from 1955, lasting until 1870 when the Italian Army conquered Rome

The work along the Tiber was conceived to fade over time. It no longer exists, but the spirit and impetus of the frieze was captured in a series of sculptures, tapestries and prints - including the striking The Triumph of Bacchus.

Sarah Sinisi

[1] Basualdo, C (ed). (2007). William Kentridge: Triumphs and Laments. Köln: Walther König.