From 1973-76 he attended the University Witwatersrand, in Johannesburg, South Africa. He studied at the Johannesburg Art Foundation, Johannesburg, South Africa, from which he graduated in 1978. In the early ‘80s he moved to Paris to study theater, attending the École Jacques LeCoq, and investigating acting, directing, and filmmaking, with little success. In the late 1980s he went back to art, making drawings and animated films and other films. Between 1989 and 2011, he created 10 Drawings for Projection, a set of 10 animated movies, which caused him to understand that the films were fundamental to his work. Kentridge has also directed several operas. He has been awarded The Carnegie Prize, Pittsburgh in 2000, and is the recipient of several honorary doctorates, including an Honorary Doctorate from the Royal College of Art, London in 2010. He was Humanitas Visiting Professor in Contemporary Art at Oxford University, Oxford, UK in 2013. He was honored as a Commandeur des Arts et des Lettres. In 2016, his solo exhibition “Thick Time” opened at Whitechapel Gallery in London. Kentridge has participated in Documenta (2012, 2002, 1997) as well as the Venice Biennale (2015, 2005, 1999 and 1993). His work is in the collections of the Tate, London, the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, among many others.

Founded in 1926 by Christian Zervos at 14, rue du Dragon in the heart of Saint-Germain-des-Prés, Cahiers d’Art encompasses a publishing house, a gallery, and a revue. The Cahiers d’Art Revue was entirely unique when it was introduced, and it still is: a revue of contemporary art defined by its combination of striking typography and layout, abundant photography, and juxtaposition of ancient and modern art. Between the 1920s and the mid-1970s, Cahiers d’Art published ninety-seven issues of the Revue and more than fifty books on fine art and architecture, as well as the thirty-three volume catalogue raisonné of Pablo Picasso. After its acquisition and relaunch in 2012 by Staffan Ahrenberg, an editorial board comprised of Sam Keller, Hans Ulrich Obrist, Isabela Mora, and Staffan Ahrenberg was created. Cahiers d’Art has since published several new Revues and art books devoted to Ellsworth Kelly, Rosemarie Trockel, Hiroshi Sugimoto, Alexander Calder, Pablo Picasso, Thomas Schütte, Gabriel Orozco, Joan Miró, Lucas Arruda, Ai Weiwei, Arthur Jafa, Frank Gehry, Christo, and others. From the 1920s till today, Cahiers d’Art has maintained a gallery, exhibiting the artists it publishes. Cahiers d’Art continues to fulfill its mission to be the cultural bridge between the avant-garde of Picasso, Duchamp, and Le Corbusier, and the leading artists and architects of our time.