'Arc/Procession: Develop, Catch Up, Even Surpass', William Kentridge

Artwork details

Artist

William Kentridge (born 1955)

Title

Arc/Procession: Develop, Catch Up, Even Surpass

Date 1990

MediumCharcoal and pastel on paper

Dimensionsframe: 2700 x 7480 mm

Collection

Tate

Acquisition Purchased with assistance from the Friends of the Tate Gallery and private benefactors 2000

Reference

T07668

Not on display

Summary

This is a large drawing on a series of eleven sheets of paper, displayed as a montage in an arc formation. It depicts a procession of people moving from right to left. They include bare-chested, black South African miners wearing helmets with a torch-light on the front, a bandaged one-legged man on a crutch, a worker bowed under the weight of an industrial burden, a suited man in a cloth cap shouting into a megaphone, a naked woman and a couple of unidentifiable figures with open umbrellas. The central figure, naked under a tweed coat, stands with his arms outstretched looking up in a pose reminiscent of religious iconography. At his feet a hyena looks out of the drawing… (read more)