William Kentridge (1955) - Domestic Scenes

Domestic Scenes" (1980) belongs to the earliest and artistically central bodies of work by William Kentridge. The series marks the beginning of that artistic engagement with power, memory and political reality that would shape his entire later output. Works from this formative phase are today particularly sought after, as they document the origin of his international significance.

This exemplar is exceptional in several respects: it is an exhibition poster from a very small original edition, further hand-signed by the artist and individually overworked with pastels. Through these interventions, each sheet acquires a unique character.

Given that it was produced over 40 years ago and the fragile materiality of such works, it is to be expected that only a few comparable copies still exist – many will have been lost or are no longer in circulation.

In this combination – early work, signature and pronounced hand-coloring – the sheet ranks among the rarest works by Kentridge available on the market.

With “Domestic Scenes” from 1980, William Kentridge thus presents one of the earliest and at the same time artistically most significant works of his oeuvre. The present sheet is a rare, hand-colored and artist-signed exhibition poster from the period of the series’ emergence – an exceptional example of Kentridge’s transition from printmaking to the drawn original work.

Artist: William Kentridge
Title: Domestic Scenes
Year: 1980/81
Technique: Offset/screen print, hand-colored with colored pencils
Signature: signed by hand
Format: approximately 50 × 60 cm
Special feature: individual hand-coloring – each copy is a unique piece within the edition

Description, History and Significance

The series “Domestic Scenes” was created in 1980 in Johannesburg and is among the earliest closed groups of works by Kentridge. In a total of 54 sheets, the artist examines the seemingly private spaces of everyday life – and exposes them as places deeply anchored in social power structures.

Against the backdrop of the South African apartheid regime, the works address the complex relationships between white households and black domestic workers. Intimacy, dependence and violence are inextricably interwoven. Kentridge succeeds in making political reality visible not through overt accusation, but through subtle, often disturbing image constellations.

The present poster holds a special position within this group of works. Unlike purely reproductive prints, it was manually overdrawn by the artist with colored pencils. This gestural intervention transforms the sheet from a exhibition piece into an autonomous artistic work. The overlays give the composition an immediate, physical presence and bring the work closer to Kentridge’s principal drawing medium.

At the same time, the work already points to central themes that would shape the artist’s entire later oeuvre: memory, guilt, power and the fragility of historical narratives. “Domestic Scenes” is therefore today regarded as a key work that laid the foundation for Kentridge’s international significance.

William Kentridge (born 1955 in Johannesburg) is among the world’s most important contemporary artists. He became known especially for his animated charcoal drawings, films and stage works, in which he deals with history, politics and memory. His works are shown worldwide in leading museums, including MoMA in New York, Tate Modern in London and the Centre Pompidou in Paris. In 2025 with a major solo exhibition at the Folkwang Museum in Essen.
Kentridge represented South Africa at the Venice Biennale and is regarded as one of the most influential voices in contemporary art.

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