Getting the label right

The news from Decanter that the price of Château Mouton 2008 “rose from £1850 a case up to £2,200 on the back of rumours that the wine’s label would be painted by a leading Chinese artist – in order to boost sales in the region” highlights the importance of getting the label right. In SA, leading labelist Anthony Lane is getting stiff competition from an unlikely source: William Kentridge, described by an artist friend of mine as the Johnny Clegg of SA art. Or maybe he said Johnny Clog, his nickname when we were all at Wits and the Jaluka mainman could be heard in Central Block in his Dr. Scholls. They’re both mid-fifties, “secular Jewish” with curly black hair and they’ve both broken through to international acclaim.

Later this year William’s staging of the Shostakovich opera The Nose in New York will ratchet up his international profile another notch while the launch of a range of Eben Sadie wines with labels by William will do the same thing locally. Who knows, perhaps The Nose will feature – the symbolism is certainly on the button. This is not the first time William has turned his hand to wine labels. Something I wrote on the labels he made using Magic Flute images three years ago.

William Kentridge and Dave King