"The Nose" Opera Curtain
William Kentridge
Set designer Sabine Theunissen and scenic artist John Pitts share how the opera curtain for William Kentridge’s production of The Nose (2010) was enlarged, by hand, from a humble collage. Filmed on location at Kentridge’s studio in Johannesburg, South Africa, and at The Metropolitan Opera’s workshop in The Bronx, New York.
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About the artists
Having witnessed first-hand one of the twentieth century’s most contentious struggles—the dissolution of apartheid—William Kentridge brings the ambiguity and subtlety of personal experience to public subjects that are most often framed in narrowly defined terms. Using film, drawing, sculpture, animation, and performance, he transmutes sobering political events into powerful poetic allegories. In a now-signature technique, Kentridge photographs his charcoal drawings and paper collages over time, recording scenes as they evolve.
