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Marcus Aurelius and Garibaldi

Item date(s): 2016

William Kentridge
Sara-Aimee Verity  - (printed by)
Nkosinathi Ndlandla  - (paper and printing by)


Medium: Phumani 100% hemp paper
Size: 163cm x 156cm each
Binding: Clamshell/solander box
Technique: Etching; Aquatint
Edition: One of 10 copies

Type: Map book
Theme(s): Two elements from the Rome frieze Triumphs and Laments

Place publication: Johannesburg
Publisher: Artist Proof Studio
Exhibition 2017

Reference note:
Triumphs and Laments consists of erased graffiti drawings on the banks of the Tiber River between Ponte Sisto and Ponte Mazzini in the heart of Rome. The project was commissioned by a non-profit organization Tevereterno and Kristin Jones. The project was conceived as a performative projection a decade earlier. For Kentridge, this project became about the space between the Vatican and the site of the original segregated Jewish ghetto that was established during the late Renaissance in Rome from 1555 and lasted until 1870 when the Italian army conquered Rome bringing the enlightened views of Garibaldi, Mazzini and Cavour.

Two fold-out mapbooks which are hung on a wall

Kentridge's technique is carried out in sequential steps, first from drawings made on paper (first in charcoal and then in ink) to their translation on the travertine walls that contain the Tiber river today, that subtracts the dark layer left on the stone blocks by pollution, vegetation and micro-organisms, through washing around the cut stencils with water. According to Guercio, the figures monumental size (their triumph) is inseparable from their precarious state (their lament) since the frieze will inevitably fade away.

The large works of Marcus Aurelius and Garibaldi have been translated into monumental prints retaining some of the impetus and spirit of the Rome frieze Triumphs and Laments. The image is drawn across 20 brass plates with a sugar-lift mixture and ink. The plates are then covered with a varnish or ground and submerged in water to 'lift' the drawing through washing, leaving a negative image. This is aquatinted with enamel spray paint and immersed in ferric chloride- a non-toxic equivalent of acid. The paper used to print each plate is hand made from raw Chinese hemp fibre that is cooked, pulped and cast into lightweight sheets at the Phumani Papermill at the University of Johannesburg. The plates have been further etched and dry-pointed adding additional layers of tone and nuance to the images.

The prints are mounted on raw cotton cloth through the etching press assuming the rough texture of the cloth. The cloth is folded in on itself using the format of a folded map that fits modestly into ones hands, denying the monumentality of a huge framed artwork. This paradox echoes what Guercio, describing the Rome frieze, called 'a desire to experience both the unfolding of time and time itself as unfolding'.

The edition is small (ten), with each piece individually hand-coloured by Kentridge using ink washes to join the folds between individual paper panels. The work folds into a hand-made clamshell box.



Exhibition notes:
‘Booknesses: Contemporary South African Artist's Books’.

FADA Gallery, University of Johannesburg.

Curated by David Paton and Eugene Hon.

24 March - 5 May 2017



Ref: DP/17090




Marcus Aurelius

Garibaldi




© Jack Ginsberg Centre for Book Arts (JGCBA). All rights reserved.