Drawing and mark making in "Johannesburg 2nd Greatest City After Paris"

Abstract

In the animation film, "Johannesburg[,] 2nd Greatest City After Paris" (1989), of the South African artist William Kentridge, he combines his charcoal drawings and mark makings with photography, in what he calls Drawings for Projection. This article investigates how Kentridge combines the graphic technique of drawing and trace with the photographic imprint, or the chemistry of the hand and the eye. Johannesburg and Paris are two great cities that played important roles in the private life of William Kentridge. Kentridge was born in Johannesburg and is still living there. In essence Johannesburg is a mining city with visible industrial souvenirs like the huge mine dumps, highways, billboards and mine shafts in the desolate landscape - a city built on speculation. By contrast, Paris is the city where Kentridge studied mime (1981 – 1982) at the École Jacques Lecoq and gained international exposure. With this film Kentridge remembers both Soho’s capitalist interior and the isolated barren landscape of the miners and the other workers.

Tekeninge in tyd en ruimte: “Johannesburg[,] 2nd Greatest City After Paris”. In die Suid-Afrikaanse kunstenaar, William Kentridge, se getekende animasiefilm, "Johannesburg[,] 2nd Greatest City After Paris" (1989) kombineer hy merkmaking, houtskooltekeninge en fotografie wat hy Drawings for Projection noem. Hierdie artikel ondersoek hoe Kentridge sy grafiese tekentegniek, spoor en fotografie gebruik het om ’n wisselwerking tussen oog en hand daar te stel. Johannesburg en Parys is beide groot stede wat elk ’n belangrike rol in die lewe van William Kentridge gespeel het. Hy is in Johannesburg gebore en woon steeds daar. Johannesburg is hoofsaaklik ’n mynstad met sigbare oorblyfsels van groot mynhope, mynskagte, reklameborde en hoofweë binne die verlate, barre landskap – ’n stad wat op spekulasie gebou is. Parys, hierteenoor, is die stad waar Kentridge mimiek tussen 1981 en 1982 by die École Jacques Lecoq bestudeer het en internasionale blootstelling verwerf het. Wanneer Kentridge as filmmaker verskillende raampies of stroke film saamvoeg, word die toeskouer binne sekondes vanaf die kapitalistiese interieurruimte waarin Soho hom bevind na die leë landskap van die myners en ander werkers verskuif.