Born in Johannesburg in 1955 to influential anti-apartheid lawyers, Kentridge studied politics and African Studies before attending the Johannesburg Art Foundation for fine art and drama. In 1981, he lived in Paris for one year while studying film, theater, and mime before returning to Johannesburg, where he continues to live. Kentridge has been making editions for over fifty years and his printmaking practice has drawn upon a wide range of techniques, including etching, aquatint, lithography, linocut, drypoint, and photogravure. The gallery neptune & brown exhibition will showcase works in all these mediums.

In addition to printmaking, Kentridge uses different media in his oeuvre including charcoal drawing, performance, film, painting, tapestry, and sculpture. His focus has been on the inequities and absurdities of the contemporary world—stemming from South Africa’s troubled history of Apartheid and continuing with subjects drawn from history, politics, memory and identity. His art speaks of universal struggles such as, freedom and loss. He has executed major public projects that range in media from a 500-meter mural along the Tiber River in Rome narrating the city’s 2,000-year history to a nine-episode series entitled Self-Portrait as a Coffee Pot.

Most recently, Kentridge celebrated his 70th birthday with gallery and museum exhibitions on three continents. To date, Kentridge has participated in over 200 museum and gallery exhibitions worldwide. He has directed over five operas and over fifty animated films. In 2012 Kentridge presented the Charles Eliot Norton Lectures at Harvard University. He holds eleven honorary doctorates from universities across the globe including, Yale University, Columbia University, and most recently in 2025, Brown University. His work is in the permanent collections of the National Gallery of Art, the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, the Museum of Modern Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, as well as many other museums worldwide.

Exhibited works: