Cape Town, 11 October 2011

155 274 William Joseph Kentridge South African 1955 Dutch Iris 2 signed and numbered 12/30 in pencil in the margin etching and aquatint in 16 colours on Velin d’Arches Blanc image size: 106 by 58cm R140 000 – 180 000 This work was executed in 1996. William Kentridge has studied printmaking formally since youth and worked closely with some of the world’s leading print makers both within South African and abroad. He has said that he prefers etching to all other processes and his use of a range of etching techniques that include hard ground, soft ground, photogravure and sugar lift, confirm this. Dutch Iris 2 is a superb example in which the artist reveals his pleasure in the possibility of the medium. Following on from the more subdued colour of Dutch Iris , produced in 1992, he has made extensive use of colours laid on top and alongside one another to build up a soft, velvety richness. The work is all the more remarkable because Kentridge is known to eschew colour in most of his work, with the exception of blue, which is associated with water and with a state of grace or bliss. It is also unusual in his oeuvre in that it is a rare work that does not draw on social or political context but concentrates on the exquisite beauty of a flower.