William Kentridge: Five Themes

February 24, 2010–May 17, 2010

This large-scale exhibition of the work of the internationally renowned South African artist William Kentridge (b. 1955) spans nearly three decades of his remarkably prolific career, with an emphasis on projects completed since 2000. Many of these have never before been publicly exhibited in the United States. Combining the political with the poetic, Kentridge's work has made an indelible mark on contemporary art. Dealing with subjects as sobering as apartheid and colonialism, Kentridge often imbues his art with dreamy, lyrical undertones or comedic bits of self-deprecation, making his powerful messages both alluring and ambivalent. Perhaps best known for his animated films based on charcoal drawings, the artist also works in prints, books, collage, and the performing arts. This exhibition explores five primary themes in Kentridge's art through a comprehensive selection of his work from the 1980s to the present, and underscores the interrelatedness of his mediums and disciplines, particularly through its presentation of works from the Museum’s collection. Included are works related to the artist's staging and design of Dmitri Shostakovich's The Nose, which premieres at New York's Metropolitan Opera in March 2010.

The exhibition's premiere at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) continues through May 31, 2009, and it subsequently travels to the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, Texas, the Norton Museum of Art, West Palm Beach, Florida, and select venues in Europe. The exhibition is accompanied by a catalogue. The MoMA presentation of Five Themes includes many works not seen in other iterations of the exhibition. Alongside key loans from around the world, the expanded selection of works from MoMA's collection underscores the Museum's interdepartmental commitment to the artist's work.

The exhibition was originally organized for the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and the Norton Museum of Art by Mark Rosenthal. At The Museum of Modern Art the exhibition is organized by Klaus Biesenbach, Chief Curator, Department of Media and Performance Art; Judith B. Hecker, Assistant Curator, Department of Prints and Illustrated Books; and Cara Starke, Assistant Curator, Department of Media and Performance Art.



The MoMA presentation is sponsored by BNY Mellon.

Major support is provided by the Mimi and Peter Haas Fund and by Sue and Edgar Wachenheim III. Additional funding is provided by Jerry I. Speyer and Katherine G. Farley, Marie-Josée and Henry Kravis, and Anna Marie and Robert F. Shapiro.

Generous support for the development of the exhibition was provided by the Koret Foundation with additional support from the National Endowment for the Arts.