Notes

Printed and published at The Leroy Neiman Center for Print Studies, Columbia University, New York.

In 2002, William Kentridge was the first artist-in-residence at the School of the Arts at Columbia University, New York. He occupied studio 301 in Watson Hall. During his residency Kentridge worked on a variety of projects. They included physical experiments and drawings towards his film Reversals of Fortune (2003), part of a larger film project celebrating the early cinema of Frenchman, George Méliès. Kentridge also produced several print projects with the LeRoy Neiman Center for Print Studies, including this large lithograph depicting a couple dancing. This print work quotes a series of life-size charcoal and turpentine drawings of dancing couples on display in Kentridge’s studio during his residency.

In a 2002 interview Kentridge described the drawings as showing the futile battles against entropy, representing bodies aging rather than bodies triumphant.¹ A year later, when Kentridge exhibited his Méliès films at the Baltic Art Center in Sweden, the artist returned to the subject of his recent drawings and print of dancing couples. There is an ambiguity about the action of the middle-aged lovers, he noted, describing them as either “embracing or wrestling”.² In a more recent interview, Kentridge again revisited the theme of middle-aged love, acknowledging that it is “not the traditional terrain of romantic love”.³ It nonetheless endures as a recurring theme in Kentridge’s mature work.

1 Kristin Sterling. (2002) Drawing, Filmmaking, Theatre are all Artist-in-Residence William Kentridge’s Specialities, Columbia News (USA), 5 December. [Online], Available: http://www.columbia.edu/cu/news/02/12/williamkentridge.html

2 William Kentridge. (2003) Notes for Journey to the Moon and Seven Fragments for Georges Méliès, exhibition at Baltic Art Center in Visby, Sweden, 6 June - 31 August [Online], Available: http://archive.balticartcenter.com/william-kentridge/

3 Sara Dolfi Agostini. (2014) William Kentridge: The Ambiguity of History, Klat (Italy), 5 November. [Online], Available: http://www.klatmagazine.com/en/art-en/william-kentridge-lambiguita-della-storia-interview/32988

Literature

Bronwyn Law-Viljoen. (2002) William Kentridge Prints, Johannesburg: David Krut Publishing. Illustrated on page 136.