LINKS: GERMAN EXPRESSIONISM, PICASSOS GUERNICA, SA POLITICAL CONTEXT

INTRO: The artist and the art pieces that will be discussed and that will be focused on are all to do with one main subject resistance art which deals with both current and past political issues in South Africa. They contain the opinion seen from the artists point of view, or as the artist may have experienced it. WHO: William Kentridge

WHERE: Johannesburg, South Africa WHEN: Born in 1955. Work started roughly from 1976 WHY: He was studying fine arts in acting, but found that acting was not his calling in life and was therefore reduced to an artist. His main aim was to create art works that commented on South African political and military issues.

CASSPIRS FULL OF LOVE WILLIAM KENTRIDGE

The disturbing depictions of mixed piles of heads appear to tremble and quiver or shake due to the scratchy, sketch technique of Kentridge's dry point, which adds to the aesthetic appeal. Aside from being a haunting image in its own right, the title of the work indicates that this piece is a reference to an episode of South African military action. In 1974, the military dictatorship in Portugal was overthrown, which subsequently resulted in much conflict in the former Portuguese-controlled colonies of Angola and Mozambique. In response, South Africa dispatched armored riotcontrol vehicles known as Casspirs, to defend their northern border with both Angola and Mozambique.
The cabinet has both a literal and metaphoric meaning to it. It is literal as it is portrayed here in the image as an object that is holding the decapitated heads. The metaphoric meaning is that of a group of politicians, chosen by the president of a country to help him with important decisions. The bodiless heads are those of politicians that once formed a cabinet. The fact that the heads are in a cabinet, shows us that Kentridge is commenting on how the government uses and abuses their political power, almost as if they use the politicians as just another file in the

(1989-2000)
This is an aggressive and tormenting image of a cabinet filled with disembodied heads.

During the incident, parents sent the quite ironic phrase "casspirs full of love" as a greeting to their sons, who were servicemen at the time, via a popular South African radio show. Kentridge further plays on that irony by forging the association between the sincere phrase and the eerie cabinet full of decapitated heads. The piece is in monotone (black and white), which is suitable for the comments that it is trying to make about this specific past issue. It is significant because of the time period. This tells us that the issue is in the past, but that it is something that wont easily be forgotten, because a photograph is essentially a moment in time that is captured for us to remember, and this piece is an image describing the issue.

OFFICE LOVE WILLIAM KENTRIDGE (2001)

A map is seen here in this completed piece, which did not exist as such in 1890, when the map was initially drawn. The background of Office Love is nothing but a shadow that ended up projecting its own reality, so that the 1890 map, which Kentridge tore to pieces and then partially reassembled, inevitably functions as a metaphor for the complex relationship between fact and fiction. In his work, it is not the object that projects its shadow, but the shadow that imagines the object and projects it into our consciousness, shaping it. Here we can see what appears to be a stronglegged man in a suit stepping firmly across the scene. The mans bulging torso seems to be crowned with
an oldThe man is a writer eternally afraid of his task, waiting to be seduced and annihilated by the threatening, mantis-like desk. Caught by his passion, he doesnt seem afraid to confront them, but it is to no avail, as the sprawling imaginary city engulfs both him and the object of his attention.

HISTORY OF CONSTANTINE

A diminutive office chair stands in the mans way, as if timidly

The man himself is almost dwarfed by a rather tall and narrow desk that, like the city on the map, has finally grown out of proportion. It is ominously decorated with a pair of hanging scissors that seems destined for him.

The man is made of the same materials as the city both are torn and recomposed figures conjured from a mixture of wool, labour This piece is a tapestry, which was constructed by making or drawing images, enlarging them, changing them to create one new image.

PETER RUBENS AND PIETRO DA CORTONA (1623-1625)

This piece consists of two complementary views that are influential during the Renaissance because of its emphasis on the universal bearing of drawing.

This tapestry depicts an epic battle telling us a story from the past, rather than it being used for decorative tapestry.

WILLIAM KENTRIDGE

William Kentridge was born in Johannesburg, South Africa in 1955. He took a Bachelor of Arts in Politics and African Studies at the University of Witwatersrand and then a diploma in Fine Arts from the Johannesburg Art Foundation. At the beginning of the 1980s, he studied mime and theatre at the L'cole Internationale de Thtre Jacques Lecoq in Paris. He had hoped to become an actor, however, he was fortunate to discover at a theatre school that he was so bad an actor that he was reduced to an artist, and he made his peace with it. Between 1975 and 1991, he was acting and directing in Johannesburg's Junction Avenue Theatre Company. In the 1980s, he worked on television films and series as art director. Kentridge is perhaps best known for his animated films. These are constructed by filming a drawing, making erasures and changes, and filming it again. He continues this process meticulously, giving each change to the drawing a quarter of a second to two seconds' screen time. A single drawing will be altered and filmed this way until the end of a scene. These drawings are later displayed along with the films as finished pieces of art.

BIBLIOGRAPHY www.google.co.za William Kentridge www.wikipedia.com William Kentridge 100 Years 10 Artists William Kentridge William Kentridge Permanent Projections Carlos Basualdo

EMILE NOLDE

PROPHET (1912)
This piece by Nolde is a woodcut or linocut. This menacing face confronts the viewer with an intimacy and deep emotion that leaves no doubt about the prophet's spirituality. His hollow eyes, furrowed brow, sunken cheeks, and somber tolerance express his innermost feelings. Three years before Nolde completed this print, he had experienced a religious conversion while recovering from an illness. Following this incident, he began depicting religious subjects in paintings and prints, such as the image seen here. Nolde had joined the German Expressionist group Brcke (Bridge) in 1906, participating in its exhibitions and in its exchange of ideas and techniques. He taught etching to his fellow members, and they introduced him to woodcuts. During the 1890s, woodcuts had undergone rebirth and revamping, when artists such as Paul Gauguin and Edvard Munch used them to create bold images that expressed strong emotional content. In Prophet, Nolde also exploits the characteristics inherent to the medium. Coarsely gouged-out areas, jagged lines, and the textured grain of the wood effectively combine in this portrayal of a passionate believer. This is a typical German Expressionist print.

PROPHE T1912

STILL LIFE WITH MASKS 1911