WILLIAM KENTRIDGE, process as metaphor and other doubtful enterprises

400pp., b/w & colour illus., hardback, d.w., Oakland, 2018

"Leora Maltz-Leca has written a book that is a formal, social, and deeply philosophical art history. Basing her study on the metaphorical possibilities of process and material, as well as on the correct notion that a formal investigation can lead to understanding the social, political, and philosophical implications of the artist’s oeuvre, Maltz-Leca recovers William Kentridge’s specific South African origins while she also uses his work to explore the ripple effects of Euro-American modernism in the world. This imaginative and provocative text resituates the artist in new and surprising ways.” Steven Nelson, Professor of African and African American Art, University of California, Los Angeles

 "Leora Maltz-Leca has brilliantly delved into the relationship between Kentridge’s working process and the function and role of metaphor in his work. She has carefully incorporated interviews with the artist, previous scholarship, and contemporary historical analysis into a convincing articulation of the isomorphism between his studio practice and the shifting, evolving conditions of pre- and post-apartheid South African history. Beautifully written, the text retains clarity in complexity." Jennifer A. González, Professor of History of Art and Visual Culture, Contemporary Art, and Race and Representation, University of California, Santa Cruz

Leora Maltz-Leca is Associate Professor of Contemporary Art History and Chair of the History of Art and Visual Culture department at the Rhode Island School of Design.