William Kentridge

William Kentridge (Johannesburg, South Africa, 1955) is internationally recognized for his drawings, films, theatre productions, and operas. His method combines drawing, writing, cinema, performance, music, theatre, and collaborative practices to create works of art grounded in politics, science, literature, and history, while still leaving space for contradiction and uncertainty.

Since 1990, Kentridge's works have been exhibited in museums and galleries around the world, including Museum of Modern Art in New York, Albertina Museum in Vienna, Musée du Louvre in Paris, Whitechapel Gallery in London, Louisiana Museum in Copenhagen, Museo Reina Sofia in Madrid, Kunstmuseum in Basel, Zeitz MOCAA and Norval Foundation in Cape Town, and Royal Academy of Arts in London. He has participated multiple times in Documenta, Kassel (2012, 2002, 1997) and in the Venice Biennale (2015, 2013, 2005, 1999, and 1993).

His operatic productions include Mozart's The Magic Flute, Shostakovich's The Nose, and Alban Berg’s works Lulu and Wozzeck, performed in world-renowned opera houses, including the Metropolitan Opera in New York, La Scala in Milan, the English National Opera in London, the Opéra de Lyon, the Opera of Amsterdam, the Sydney Opera House, and the Salzburg Festival.

Kentridge’s theatre productions, staged in theaters and festivals around the world, include Refuse the Hour, Winterreise, Paper Music, The Head & the Load, Ursonate, Sibyl, The Great Yes, The Great No, and, in collaboration with the Handspring Puppet Company, Ubu & the Truth Commission, Faustus in Africa!, The Return of Ulysses, and Woyzeck on the Highveld.

In 2016, Kentridge founded the Centre for Less Good Idea in Johannesburg: a space dedicated to reflective thinking and creative work through experimental, collaborative, and interdisciplinary artistic practices. The centre hosts an ongoing program of workshops, public performances, and mentoring activities.

Kentridge has received honorary doctorates from numerous universities, including Yale, the University of London, and Columbia University. In 2010, he was awarded the Kyoto Prize. In 2012, he was made a Commandeur in the Order of Arts and Letters in France, and delivered the Charles Eliot Norton Lectures at Harvard University. In 2015, he was named an Honorary Academician of the Royal Academy of London. In 2017, he received the Princess of Asturias Award for the Arts, and in 2018 the Antonio Feltrinelli International Prize. In 2019, he was awarded the Praemium Imperiale for painting in Tokyo. In 2021, he was appointed Foreign Associate Member of the Académie des Beaux-Arts in Paris. In 2022, he received the Honor of the Order of the Star of Italy and, in 2023, the Olivier Award for Excellence in Opera for Sibyl in London.

Kentridge’s works are part of the collections of numerous museums such as Art Gallery of Western Australia (Perth), Art Institute of Chicago, Carnegie Museum of Art (New York), San Diego Museum of Art, Fondation Cartier (Paris), Zeitz MOCAA (Cape Town), Norval Foundation (Cape Town), LACMA (Los Angeles), Haus der Kunst (Munich), Sharjah Art Foundation, Mudam (Luxembourg), Musée d'Art Contemporain de Montréal, MoMA (New York), SF MoMA (San Francisco), Castello di Rivoli (Turin), Moderna Museet (Stockholm), MoCA (Los Angeles), Stedelijk Museum (Amsterdam), National Gallery of Victoria (Melbourne), Johannesburg Art Gallery, MAXXI (Rome), Louisiana Museum (Humlebaek, Denmark), National Gallery of Canada (Ottawa), National Museum of Modern Art (Kyoto), Israel Museum (Jerusalem), Inhotim Museum (Brumadinho, Brazil), Broad Art Foundation (Los Angeles), Centre Pompidou (Paris), Fondation Louis Vuitton (Paris), National Gallery of Australia (Canberra), Tate Modern (London), Sifang Art Museum (Nanjing), Kunsthalle Mannheim, Vehbi Koç Foundation (Istanbul), Luma Foundation (Arles), Museum of Fine Arts (Budapest), Fundació Sorigué (Lleida, Spain), Guggenheim (Abu Dhabi), Kunsthalle Praha (Prague), and Amorepacific Museum of Art (Seoul), as well as numerous private collections worldwide.