William Kentridge fills the Royal Academy galleries with such strong, graphic images that you feel he has only just put down his stick of charcoal and moved onto something else. This astonishing show give us a chronological view of this important South African artist’s development.

I first encountered William Kentridge’s work at the Marian Goodman gallery in Soho and was blown away by the bold, energetic works which really show a hand at work with drawing in charcoal at its heart.

In fact, you can see where Kentridge has actually been in the RA gallery because he’s drawn directly onto the wall and you can see all the black charcoal dust on the dado below.

Kentridge is an artist who’s go-to is paper. He clearly loves all kinds of paper and uses it to create collages, smudged and scribbled impressions on all kinds of paper and combines his work with occasional splashes or streaks of colour. Some of his work has been developed into new media – animation, films and tapestry.

On the left is the artwork created on paper using collage. On the right is the large-scale tapestry which beautifully recreates the original in woven thread.

Above is a woodcut, entitled Mantegna, printed from twelve woodblocks onto 21 sheets of various sizes of Somerset Soft paper. 2016

Kentridge’s work is often on a huge scale. I loved the work done with Indian Ink on fragments of newsprint and have added a detail of this one, Eat Bitterness, made on found paper in 2014. He demonstrates that you don’t need expensive canvases, paints and pricey materials to create artwork which dazzles and beguiles. As a paper collage artist myself I feel so pleased when I see artists choosing to work with such modest and ‘throwaway’ materials and making something magical with them.

Below are a few snaps taken from some of the animated films in the show. Kentridge seems to create the movement by drawing in charcoal and then smudging and redrawing. The effect is mesmerising and it’s fascinating to see the scratches and echoes of the earlier drawings under the top layer. It’s not often you get to use the word pentimento but that’s what we’re looking at.

This is a wonderful show, a great celebration of a remarkable contemporary artist. Kentridge, born into a family in Johannesburg and growing up in the time of apartheid, has used his art to argue for political change in that country while at the same time showing us the beauty of the land.

It’s on at the Royal Academy until 11th December 2022.

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