Details
WILLIAM KENTRIDGE (B. 1955)
Sleeper Red, from: Sleeper Series
etching and aquatint with drypoint printed in black and red, 1997, on wove paper, signed and dated KENTRIDGE '97 in pencil, inscribed PROOF (twice), a printer's proof aside from the edition of fifty, published by David Krut, Johannesburg, printed by Jack Shirreff at the 107 Workshop, Wiltshire
Plate & Sheet 980 x 1930 mm.
Literature
see D. Krut, William Kentridge Prints, Johannesburg and Iowa, 2006, pp. 66, 68-69.
Special notice
Please note this lot is the property of a consumer. See H1 of the Conditions of Sale.
Brought to you by

Lot Essay

In 1996 Kentridge embarked on a series of etchings to coincide with the centenary of Alfred Jarry's Ubu Roi. In Ubu tells the Truth Kentridge transposed Jarry's spiral-bellied comic anti-hero with the figure of a naked man based on photographs of Kentridge performing the part of Ubu in his studio. The series was the basis for a theatre production written and directed by the artist, Ubu & the Truth Commission (1997), which in turn was the genesis of The Sleeper prints. 'I had worked on a series of messy drawings of a naked man, sometimes enclosed by the white Ubu line drawing, trying to get some feel of the theatre production in them. With the first set of drypoints I had used a thumbprint and printed the heel of my hand to suggest the flesh texture. With the large drawings one has to pull shape and texture into the drawing on a larger scale. I wheeled a bicycle across the paper, hit it with charcoal-impregnated silk rope, invited children and cats to walk over it, spattered it freely with pigment. The Sleeper prints used a range of materials and objects placed on soft ground to try to effect the same damage upon the paper' (William Kentridge, in: William Kentridge Prints, David Krut Publishing, Johannesburg and New York, 2006, p. 66)

Related Articles

Sorry, we are unable to display this content. Please check your connection.

More from
Contemporary Edition
Place your bid Condition report

A Christie's specialist may contact you to discuss this lot or to notify you if the condition changes prior to the sale.

I confirm that I have read this Important Notice regarding Condition Reports and agree to its terms. View Condition Report