William Kentridge
Birds in Flight
Artist
William Kentridge
(1955, Johannesburg), South African
Original Title
Birds in Flight
Date2016-2017
Mediumindian ink on handmade paper mounted on cotton fabric paintings, one unique video (animation)
Dimensions98 × 95 cm (panel), 60 sec (video)
Classificationsmultimedia works
Credit LineKunsthalle Praha
DescriptionWilliam Kentridge is an internationally renowned South African artist. His oeuvre is characterized by masterful drawings using coal and India ink, which his interdisciplinary approach combines with animation, performance, film, opera, and theatre, resulting in a complex artistic expression marked by impressive scenographic sensitivity. The fusion of diverse mediums emphasizes the processual character of Kentridge’s work, which incorporates his interest in questions of time and movement. In collaging the individual thematic elements, Kentridge draws on his vast pictorial archive which contains various photographs, images, and textual fragments. Although his work cannot be understood as explicitly activist or political, it heavily thematizes the social transformation of South African society toward a post-apartheid social system. His allegorical works are based both on general facts and on his familial and personal as a white observer, imbuing his gaze with an authentic gravity and an ambivalence of meaning. Kentridge’s contemplative, poetic work thus conveys a belief in diverse cultural traditions as well as an awareness of the instability and absurdity of the surrounding world. Apart from these topics, his works also contain strong links to European modernism, dadaist absurdity, and the aesthetics of silent movies.
This piece titled Birds in Flight (2016-2017) comprises twelve India ink drawings of a sparrow in flight and a minute-long animated video. Each movement of the bird’s flight is captured on a separate sheet of paper. These distinctive phases of flight are also shown in individual sequences of the short movie, where they are depicted on a background formed by opened Chinese books. The visual portrayal of the phases of flight can be interpreted as an allegorical critique of the actions of Chinese leader Mao Zedong, who in 1958 declared sparrows to be agricultural pests. Consequently, their extermination was overseen by the army, with common citizenry and children also partaking in the effort. According to official figures, this collective endeavor resulted in the death of 4-8 million sparrows, practically eliminating them from China’s territory. However, scientists later observed that sparrows mainly feed on insects and caterpillars and are therefore significantly beneficial for agriculture. The momentous disruption of the natural food chain is considered to be one of the causes of the Great Chinese Famine between 1958 and 1961.
William Kentridge‘s (*1955, Johannesburg) fascinating artistic practice combines his personal lived reality with the historical and social dimensions of South African society, which he reflects on through various forms of artistic expression. He studied political and African sciences at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg from 1973 to 1976 and subsequently fine arts at the Johannesburg Art Foundation. In the early 1980s, he studied pantomime and theatre at the École Internationale de Théâtre Jacques Lecoq in Paris, and in 1989 he began producing short, animated films created by photographically recreating paintings and subsequently editing them. His work is included in numerous collections and has been displayed in extensive solo exhibitions worldwide at institutions such as the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Philadelphia Museum of Modern Art, the Moderna Museet in Stockholm, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. He has also exhibited at the Vennice Biennale (1999) and at Documenta in Kassel (1997, 2002, 2012). He has received several awards for his work including the Standard Bank Young Artist Award, the Carnegie Medal, and an honorary doctorate in literature from the University of the Witwatersrand.
This piece titled Birds in Flight (2016-2017) comprises twelve India ink drawings of a sparrow in flight and a minute-long animated video. Each movement of the bird’s flight is captured on a separate sheet of paper. These distinctive phases of flight are also shown in individual sequences of the short movie, where they are depicted on a background formed by opened Chinese books. The visual portrayal of the phases of flight can be interpreted as an allegorical critique of the actions of Chinese leader Mao Zedong, who in 1958 declared sparrows to be agricultural pests. Consequently, their extermination was overseen by the army, with common citizenry and children also partaking in the effort. According to official figures, this collective endeavor resulted in the death of 4-8 million sparrows, practically eliminating them from China’s territory. However, scientists later observed that sparrows mainly feed on insects and caterpillars and are therefore significantly beneficial for agriculture. The momentous disruption of the natural food chain is considered to be one of the causes of the Great Chinese Famine between 1958 and 1961.
William Kentridge‘s (*1955, Johannesburg) fascinating artistic practice combines his personal lived reality with the historical and social dimensions of South African society, which he reflects on through various forms of artistic expression. He studied political and African sciences at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg from 1973 to 1976 and subsequently fine arts at the Johannesburg Art Foundation. In the early 1980s, he studied pantomime and theatre at the École Internationale de Théâtre Jacques Lecoq in Paris, and in 1989 he began producing short, animated films created by photographically recreating paintings and subsequently editing them. His work is included in numerous collections and has been displayed in extensive solo exhibitions worldwide at institutions such as the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Philadelphia Museum of Modern Art, the Moderna Museet in Stockholm, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. He has also exhibited at the Vennice Biennale (1999) and at Documenta in Kassel (1997, 2002, 2012). He has received several awards for his work including the Standard Bank Young Artist Award, the Carnegie Medal, and an honorary doctorate in literature from the University of the Witwatersrand.
