Strauss & co - 2017 Review

William Kentridge’s drawing from his seminal film, Sobriety, Obesity, and Growing Old (1991), came to us from far afield after months of negotiations with the owner. Finally, when all the parties were in agreement, the work arrived unexpectedly just as the deadline for our mid-year review closed. With a picture of this scale (120 by 150cm) there are all sorts of logistical challenges to be encountered. Almost immediately it was dispatched to the photographer so that the marketing campaign could commence. This was one of the first important drawings from the early Kentridge films that we have been privileged to handle. One of the most exciting things about it was identifying the scenes in which it features. The drawing is a result of Kentridge’s stop motion technique where elements are added and removed to create a dynamic, flowing narrative. These surviving records in drawing form capture the conclusion of a particular sequence. Owing to this process only a few drawings exist. When approached from that perspective, it is not just a drawing that is being acquired, it is an entire process – a remembrance of erased drawings, or lost drawings, or even a history of the ghosts that haunt the page. William Kentridge’s studio lent us a screening copy of the film to show alongside the work at our preview, which helped complete the story for the audience. It is there, in the relationship of static object andmoving film inwhich the ghosts come back to life. Jean le Clus-Theron on William Kentridge 71