South Africa can indeed be proud of its most celebrated contemporary artist, William Kentridge. Many accolades have been heaped upon him over his 40 year career and from September to December the Royal Academy of the Arts, London will host the biggest retrospective of his work to date. He is well known for his multi-media creativity working in and across mediums of drawing, etching, collage, film, sculpture and tapestry to theatre, opera and music to create works of art that are centered around politics, literature and history.
Kentridge’s work has been seen in museums, galleries and theatres around the world since the 1990s, including the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Albertina Museum in Vienna, Musée du Louvre in Paris, Louisiana Museum in Copenhagen, the Reina Sofia in Madrid, and the Kunstmuseum in Basel. His work can be found in the collections of art museums and institutions across the globe.
Opera productions include Mozart’s The Magic Flute, Shostakovich’s The Nose, and Alban Berg’s operas Lulu and Wozzeck, and have been seen at opera houses including the Metropolitan Opera in New York, La Scala in Milan, La Monnaie in Brussels, English National Opera in London, Opera de Lyon, Amsterdam Opera, the Sydney Opera House and the Salzburg Festival.
He is the recipient of honorary doctorates from several universities including Yale and the University of London. Prizes include the Kyoto Prize (2010), the Princesa de Asturias Award (2017) and the Praemium Imperiale Prize, Japan (2019). He was elected as an Honorary Academician of the Royal Academy of Arts in London in 2015.
The exhibition will be on show in London from 24 September to 22 December 2022.
Main image – South African artist William Kentridge. Sourced from Whyy.org
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