Drawing from 'Preparing the Flute' (Backdrop and Stage)

Details

William Kentridge (B. 1955)
Drawing from 'Preparing the Flute' (Backdrop and Stage)
signed 'Kentridge' (lower right)
charcoal and pastel on paper
31 ½ x 47 3/8in. (80 x 120.5cm.)
Executed in 2005

Provenance

Marian Goodman Gallery, New York.
Acquired from the above by the present owner in 2007.

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Lot Essay

William Kentridge often sketches aspects of his operatic works before and during the process of their performance. Given the centrality of drawing to his practice, these must also be considered stand-alone works. In the case of this work, we see Kentridge imagining the backdrop and stage for his 2005 interpretation of Mozart’s The Magic Flute. Because of the centrality of the stage as the framing device for Kentridge’s projection, many of the drawings related to this theatrical work, including this one, take it as their subject-matter.

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