William Kentridge: The Nose
February 23 – April 10, 2010
David Krut Print Workshop is pleased to announce the publication of a new suite of prints by William Kentridge. ‘Nose’ is a suite of thirty prints, each plate measuring roughly 15 x 20 cm (5 x 8 inches). The prints explore a number of techniques but rely primarily on Kentridge’s strong drypoint marks, softened by sugarlift aquatint and punctuated, in several plates, with red. Each plate is engraved with a number signalling its place in the series. There are fifty prints in each edition and they have been editioned by Jillian Ross, Niall Bingham and Mlungisi Kongisa. This series will be exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art, New York from February 24 to May 17, 2010, at David Krut Projects, Johannesburg and David Krut Projects, New York in February 23 to April 10, 2010.
The ‘Nose’ series arose out of Kentridge’s preparation for his production of the Shostakovich opera “The Nose” for the Metropolitan Opera in March 2010. Shostakovich’s opera is based on one of the most famous stories in Russian literature, Nikolai Gogol’s The Nose, published in 1837. The story follows the adventures of the pompous government official Kovalyov who wakes up one day to find that his nose has left his face and gone walking around St Petersburg. In his interpretation of Gogol and Shostakovich, Kentridge has projected the story forward to the 1917 Russian Revolution and the Russian avant-garde, and then into the twentieth century to include allusions to Stalin’s purges of the 1930s.
The prints will be launched, along with the book Nose: Thirty Etchings. A book signing with the artist is scheduled for March 13th, 10:30am. For more information about the new book, click here.