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A Natural History of the Studio
South African artist William Kentridge, one of the leading artists of our time, offers a personal insight into his work, his childhood, and his artistic techniques, and the studio spaces he has occupied throughout his life
What is of us, and what is not? Where to find our edge? This is another theme of these what is me and what is the world beyond me? And particularly, what are the negotiations that happen at this border, the meeting point where the world comes towards us, and we go out to meet it?
For more than three decades, South African artist William Kentridge has created a vast body of work of charcoal-, pencil- and black ink drawings and multimedia installations about history and politics that have been exhibited in museums, opera and art houses, film centers, galleries and outdoor installations worldwide. At the same time, his creative work has stretched the boundaries of the very media he employs.
The six chapters of A Natural History of the Studio immerse us in the artistic, intellectual, and production processes of his outstanding body of work. They also provide philosophical, autobiographical, technical and practical commentary and give intimate insight into the studios where he has created throughout his life – from his first workspace as a young student to his current studio in Johannesburg, where all his projects start.
A Natural History of the Studio is not only a must-read for admirers of Kentridge’s work, but also a vibrant personal and philosophical exploration of the creative process and a critical look at the world and the human condition.
What is of us, and what is not? Where to find our edge? This is another theme of these what is me and what is the world beyond me? And particularly, what are the negotiations that happen at this border, the meeting point where the world comes towards us, and we go out to meet it?
For more than three decades, South African artist William Kentridge has created a vast body of work of charcoal-, pencil- and black ink drawings and multimedia installations about history and politics that have been exhibited in museums, opera and art houses, film centers, galleries and outdoor installations worldwide. At the same time, his creative work has stretched the boundaries of the very media he employs.
The six chapters of A Natural History of the Studio immerse us in the artistic, intellectual, and production processes of his outstanding body of work. They also provide philosophical, autobiographical, technical and practical commentary and give intimate insight into the studios where he has created throughout his life – from his first workspace as a young student to his current studio in Johannesburg, where all his projects start.
A Natural History of the Studio is not only a must-read for admirers of Kentridge’s work, but also a vibrant personal and philosophical exploration of the creative process and a critical look at the world and the human condition.
240 pages, Hardcover
Published May 12, 2026
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
May 20, 2026
I got this book as a giveaway from Goodreads.
I like this kind of book, and it was interesting to learn how an artist thinks , how he is trying to put his thoughts on life .
This book includes a lot of illustrations. I had never heard of W. Kentridge, but after this book, I googled and watched some videos. It boosted my knowledge of Art.
I like this kind of book, and it was interesting to learn how an artist thinks , how he is trying to put his thoughts on life .
This book includes a lot of illustrations. I had never heard of W. Kentridge, but after this book, I googled and watched some videos. It boosted my knowledge of Art.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
A Natural History of the Studio is a collection of 'lectures' by the artist William Kentridge which blend biography, history and art commentary. The lectures explore aspects of life and politics in South Africa, linked to the pondering of art practice and the studio work that William has created.
This book had a strong start and I found a lot of quotes that I found sparked my interest. One talks about how you can make a self-portrait from objects that you own as they reflect your image in a more abstract way, another talks about landscapes and colonialism. The quote "we are always a collage under construction- talking this fragment, editing out another, consciously or unconsciously" felt like a good insight into how artistic brains work and what was to come later in the book.
This concept of collage and construction is how William frames the artist at work- a curator of scraps and fragments. The beginning of the book positions the artist as a maker of art through many means.
I loved the integration of personal and South African history within the book as it gave more of a face to the words and taught me more about something I had little knowledge about, let alone experience. Seeing glimpses of how some events became ideas for art was interesting and a unique insight into how politics and life experience can affect one's art practice. The quote "it is impossible to think of utopia without invoking its underbelly of violence" was also very profound.
I selected this book as I like another fellow reviewer like to learn about new artists that I haven't heard about before. It's interesting to learn about their history and their art without already knowing about it on a deeper level.
'The Studio' as mentioned in the title is not a topic in the ways I expected it. From the title my preconceptions were that it would be discussed as a tool, a location of performance and creation however the book becomes a lot more abstract after the first two lectures or so. The studio is not literal- it is linked more to the reflections of the artist in a vague way rather than a direct commentary of the practice of the studio. This was a lot clearer after finishing the book and flicking through it again but was a bit confusing at the time.
Sometimes the work was a bit too abstract for me and I found myself trying to work out the relevance of the anecdote to the lecture and the lecture to the studio and got confused often. I think this is what affected my reading of the book.
I think that it may have been easier to engage with for me if it followed a similar structure to an essay with each 'lecture'- an introduction, the main writings and some sort of link to the studio or conclusion style ending as the titles also aren't a clear giveaway to the meaning of the chapters. I think the style of writing was a bit hard to follow without a clear understanding of what the general meaning of each section was supposed to be and what to take from it and hindered the valuable comments within the work.
I really liked learning about the personal and South African history- especially with my little knowledge on both. Seeing glimpses of how politics and life created ideas for artwork was interesting and I think the writer would enjoy an autobiographical project if not done already as some parts of the book read like that style of writing with the added insight and philosophy on politics and the unique spin of being able to say "this is what I created as a result of this/this is the artwork I produced at that time" alongside personal and wider history could be a unique selling point!
This book had a strong start and I found a lot of quotes that I found sparked my interest. One talks about how you can make a self-portrait from objects that you own as they reflect your image in a more abstract way, another talks about landscapes and colonialism. The quote "we are always a collage under construction- talking this fragment, editing out another, consciously or unconsciously" felt like a good insight into how artistic brains work and what was to come later in the book.
This concept of collage and construction is how William frames the artist at work- a curator of scraps and fragments. The beginning of the book positions the artist as a maker of art through many means.
I loved the integration of personal and South African history within the book as it gave more of a face to the words and taught me more about something I had little knowledge about, let alone experience. Seeing glimpses of how some events became ideas for art was interesting and a unique insight into how politics and life experience can affect one's art practice. The quote "it is impossible to think of utopia without invoking its underbelly of violence" was also very profound.
I selected this book as I like another fellow reviewer like to learn about new artists that I haven't heard about before. It's interesting to learn about their history and their art without already knowing about it on a deeper level.
'The Studio' as mentioned in the title is not a topic in the ways I expected it. From the title my preconceptions were that it would be discussed as a tool, a location of performance and creation however the book becomes a lot more abstract after the first two lectures or so. The studio is not literal- it is linked more to the reflections of the artist in a vague way rather than a direct commentary of the practice of the studio. This was a lot clearer after finishing the book and flicking through it again but was a bit confusing at the time.
Sometimes the work was a bit too abstract for me and I found myself trying to work out the relevance of the anecdote to the lecture and the lecture to the studio and got confused often. I think this is what affected my reading of the book.
I think that it may have been easier to engage with for me if it followed a similar structure to an essay with each 'lecture'- an introduction, the main writings and some sort of link to the studio or conclusion style ending as the titles also aren't a clear giveaway to the meaning of the chapters. I think the style of writing was a bit hard to follow without a clear understanding of what the general meaning of each section was supposed to be and what to take from it and hindered the valuable comments within the work.
I really liked learning about the personal and South African history- especially with my little knowledge on both. Seeing glimpses of how politics and life created ideas for artwork was interesting and I think the writer would enjoy an autobiographical project if not done already as some parts of the book read like that style of writing with the added insight and philosophy on politics and the unique spin of being able to say "this is what I created as a result of this/this is the artwork I produced at that time" alongside personal and wider history could be a unique selling point!
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
I always like reading books about artist that I am unfamiliar with. I believe this book went way over my head. I thought this would be a traditional format of writing about the artist's process in the studio, but it was not.....at least not in the literal way. This book is actually written in a stream of consciousness. This was really hard for me to get through but once I figured out this was the format, I started to understand it a little better.
The was a free ARC from NetGalley
The was a free ARC from NetGalley
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
A thoroughly engaging view of the artistic processes of one our greatest living artists, and it's nice to see that he comes across as a very decent bloke. I cherished a vision of an ursine Kentridge, pombling up to the lectern at All Soul's College, Oxford to deliver these lectures, for all the world looking like his image from his multimedia installations.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews