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Vol. I · 2026
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Tier B
Fashion & Entertainment · South Africa · Russian Empire

William Kentridge

Уильям Кентридж

Johannesburg-born artist; grandson of the Lithuanian-born lawyer Morris Kentridge

🇿🇦 Fame: South Africa🇷🇺 Origin: Russian Empire🔗 Connection: Ancestry🗣 Russian: No
WK
Profile #938
ProfessionArtist
Russian originRussian Empire (town not documented)Russian Empire
ConnectionAncestrySydney Kentridge; Felicia Geffen
RussianNo
CategoryFashion & EntertainmentTier B
Biography

William Kentridge — artist with roots in the Russian Empire

William Kentridge is a South African artist born in Johannesburg, known for animated films, drawings and theatre and opera productions that deal with apartheid and colonialism. His works include the Soho Eckstein film series, the Tiber frieze Triumphs and Laments (2016) and Metropolitan Opera productions of The Nose, Lulu and Wozzeck.

Russian Connection

Tracing the roots — Russian Empire (town not documented)

His paternal grandfather, Morris Kentridge (originally Kantrovitch, 1881–1964), was born in Lithuania, then part of the Russian Empire, and became a lawyer and politician in South Africa. William, son of the barrister Sydney Kentridge, is a third-generation South African of Lithuanian-Jewish heritage.

Family Tree
Subject
William Kentridge🇿🇦 South Africa
↑
Grandparents
Sydney Kentridge
Felicia Geffen
↑
Origin
Russian Empire (town not documented)🇷🇺 Russian Empire
Historical context
Russian Empire · c. 1721–1917
Map of the Russian Empire

Russian Empire (town not documented). At the time, this region lay within the Russian Empire, which spanned from Poland to the Pacific.

Map: Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA)
Key Achievements

A career defined by ambition

01
Soho Eckstein series of short animated films — ten films, later expanded
02
Triumphs and Laments (2016) — monumental frieze along the Tiber, Rome
03
Work in the collections of MoMA, Tate Modern and the Metropolitan Museum
04
Metropolitan Opera productions of Shostakovich's The Nose and Berg's Lulu and Wozzeck
Russian diasporaRussian Empire roots
Sources