William Kentridge: Triumphs and Laments (2017)

Hardcover, 5.75 x 8 in., 300 pgs, 144 color, 48 bw. with marbled edges

Included are two endpaper inserts. Front endpaper: Vintage map of Rome at the end of the 19th century. Back endpaper: The Roman ascendancy during the first century CE

Edited with an introduction by Carlos Basualdo. Foreword by Federica Galloni. Text by Gabriele Guercio, Salvatore Settis.

Published on the occasion of of the public project Triumphs and Laments at Piazza Tevere, Rome, 2016. 2nd Edition, 2018.

Triumphs and Laments is not only a celebration of William Kentridge’s (born 1955) monumental frieze drawn along the banks of the Tiber River in Rome and the performance which inaugurated it, but a gorgeously produced guide to one of his most memorable and ambitious projects.
Designed with the early Baedekers in mind, this bilingual book acts as an essential component to viewing Kentridge’s erased-graffiti figures and understanding the process of their creation, with useful gatefolds, a poster and a leporello of the frieze to accompany the texts. These include a conversation between Carlos Basualdo and the artist and two essays, by Salvatore Settis and Gabriele Guercio, which explore the meaning behind the work and its resonance with the millennia-long history of the city of Rome.