The prolific output of the artist William Kentridge is easy to admire. His confident hand abounds with life in his drawings, animations, and sculptural works. His expressionist tendencies are apparent in early large prints included in his retrospective exhibition, William Kentridge: In Praise of Shadows at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, and the trajectory from static drawings towards stop motion magic is explained in the astute curation of the show. It is one of the strongest displays of artistic vision on view in recent memory.

From 1948 to 1992, South Africa was a segregated country under the apartheid system. […] Johannesburg artist William Kentridge refused to see the world in such stark black-and-white terms, although, ironically, the majority of his work is decidedly monochrome. A philosopher and humanitarian, Kentridge’s drawings, animations, assemblages and tapestries examine the idiosyncrasies of the human condition, especially as it relates to apartheid and eventual desegregation, as well as colonial racism. His retrospective “William Kentridge: In Praise of Shadows,” on view at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston through Sept. 10, is thought-provoking, challenging, witty and visually inspiring.

Coursing through “William Kentridge: In Praise of Shadows” at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston feels a little like scuba diving along a reef. “In Praise of Shadows” teems with life, functioning less as an exhibition than an environment, comprising woodcuts, video, animation, sculpture, charcoal, paint, tapestry, ledgers, shadow boxes, music, propaganda-style posters and a few devices that exude a Rube Goldberg-esque panache.