Description

William Kentridge's Muizenberg is the fourth in a series of Steidl publications which form part of the wider William Kentridge catalogue raisonné of prints and posters, authored and researched by Warren Siebrits, and ongoing since 2020. Much like Kentridge's Domestic Scenes (2021) and Carlton Centre Games Arcade (2025), this book takes a focused look at another small but highly significant series of prints documented for the first time in Kentridge's Catalogue Raisonné Volume 1. Prints and Posters 1974-1990 (2022).In the summer of 1976, just months after the infamous Soweto Uprising in Johannesburg, Kentridge created images of the well-to-do of South Africa's Jewish community enjoying the summer sun on the "whites-only" Muizenberg beach in Cape Town. These are the proverbial frogs in the pot, seemingly oblivious to the devastating effects of the apartheid system. The book includes all twelve plates in the Muizenberg series as well as a revelatory sketchbook from Kentridge's archive, documenting his preparatory drawings for the prints. Each final plate state is accompanied by commentary from Kentridge, who shares his working methods as well as personal memories of the prints' subjects and creation. Also included is an interview between Kentridge and longtime friend Timothy James, exploring the making of these prints which shaped many later works. Muizenberg features five cover variations, each with a different tipped-in image from the series.