Critique of "Walking Man" by William Kentridge

This work was produced by using the process of linocut. This is cutting or carving a design into a sheet of linoleum and pressing it onto paper, or in Kentridge's case, canvas. This process seems like it would be long and difficult. This work has a lot of repetition of line and color. Straight lines are used most often, whereas broken lines are used in the "body" which dominates the space on the canvas. The lines vary between straight and curved, making the piece more dynamic and fluid. There is a lot of continuity in the piece because of all the lines. My eyes went from the bottom up and through the branches. The work has a black border, and a few branches at the top are the only ones which cross this border. There is a balance of black and white, and grays produced by the black and white lines that are close together in the background.

The process of linocut and the size of the piece seems to indicate difficulty and possibly struggle. The figure if the man combined with nature seems to suggest a relationship between the two which may be a conflict. This is suggested by the blackness and size of the figure. There seems to be something powerful about the man because he dominates the space and is considerably larger than the tree on the landscape. Because there is no face, I feel that there is something dangerous and maybe destructive about the figure.

Miranda