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Surveying His Escape

Print
2021 (printed)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

This photogravure print was acquired by the National Art Library AL along with a deluxe copy of the The Nose, a short story by Gogol in a new original translation by scholar and author Stanislav Shvabrin, published by Arion Press in 2021. The presentation is playful and elaborate, inspired by the exuberant typography and avant-garde book arts of early 20th-century Russia. South African artist William Kentridge provided 16 altered and collaged images for the book, composed on tear sheets of the 19th-century tabloid The Illustrated London News, which have been reproduced in full-colour offset lithography on tinted backgrounds. This print, entitled ‘Surveying His Escape’, photogravure and chine collé, is in the more painterly style that characterises Kentridge’s hand-drawn animated films.


Object details

Categories
Object type
Titles
  • Surveying His Escape (assigned by artist)
  • The Nose (series title)
Materials and techniques
Photogravure and chine colle on paper
Brief description
William Kentridge: 'Surveying His Escape', photogravure with chine colle, 2021. Illustration to a new edition of Gogol's The Nose, published separately.
Physical description
A monochrome print showing a landscape with a bare tree to the left and at the centre a figure with a large black nose in place of the head.
Dimensions
  • Sheet height: 37.2cm
  • Sheet width: 46.4cm
Copy number
23/40
Marks and inscriptions
23/40
Summary
This photogravure print was acquired by the National Art Library AL along with a deluxe copy of the The Nose, a short story by Gogol in a new original translation by scholar and author Stanislav Shvabrin, published by Arion Press in 2021. The presentation is playful and elaborate, inspired by the exuberant typography and avant-garde book arts of early 20th-century Russia. South African artist William Kentridge provided 16 altered and collaged images for the book, composed on tear sheets of the 19th-century tabloid The Illustrated London News, which have been reproduced in full-colour offset lithography on tinted backgrounds. This print, entitled ‘Surveying His Escape’, photogravure and chine collé, is in the more painterly style that characterises Kentridge’s hand-drawn animated films.
Collection
Accession number
E.1-2022

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Record createdDecember 21, 2021
Record URL
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