William Kentridge: Carlton Centre Games Arcade

Kentridge’s early series of intaglio prints from scenes observed in Johannesburg’s first skyscraper

Following the publication of his Domestic Scenes (2021) and Catalogue Raisonné Volume 1: Prints and Posters 1974-1990 (2022), South African artist William Kentridge (born 1955) offers a more intimate look at a series of prints, singular and influential in his oeuvre, titled Carlton Centre Games Arcade (1977).
The Carlton Centre in Johannesburg, owned by the mining company Anglo American, was the most expensive and prestigious hotel and shopping complex on the African continent at the time and was just a short walk from Kentridge’s father’s legal practice. This complex was where he decided to begin the process of observational drawing that would lead to his first prolonged engagement with intaglio printing. This book is an opportunity for Kentridge enthusiasts to catch a glimpse of this little-known early series of 14 etchings and also offers a further taste of the ongoing catalogue raisonné project.