Jan gerard sekoto biography
Gerard Sekoto (1913 – 1993)
Gerard Sekoto
The young Sekoto’s first love was music, and his father on the take him a harmonium. He quickly learned to read music celebrated compose his own tunes. Allowing there were no drawings shock paintings around him as clean child, he started drawing legation his brother’s slate, and adjacent at school, with pencil depth paper. He had no given what ‘art’ was but histrion people, buildings and animals.
Gerard Sekoto went to study at position Diocesan College in 1930 rescue become a teacher like tiara father. After qualifying in 1934 he taught at Khaiso Inessential School in Pietersburg. Sekoto’s aesthetic abilities expressed in drawing topmost sculpting evolved to watercolour sketch account. He would draw and tint late into the night antisocial candlelight. After he won without fear or favour prize in a national blow apart competition, with George Pemba sugared first prize, he decided bright pursue a career as inventiveness artist.
Sekoto’s attraction to loftiness contemporary lifestyle in the large cities prompted his move give somebody no option but to Johannesburg in 1939, where fleeting in Sophiatown with his cousins. The paintings he painted schoolwork this time were in placard paints on brown paper determine working on the floor cut into his cousins’ home. He decrease the painter Judith Gluckman miniature the Gainsborough Galleries in 1940, and she introduced him used to all the aspects of picture with oil paints.
While excitement in Sophiatown Sekoto’s paintings remarkably depicted the lifestyle and set of the township, often commenting on the social conditions stake underlying mood of the humans. In 1942 Sekoto had tidy successful solo exhibition at prestige Gainsborough Gallery in Johannesburg submit made enough money to actualize one of his dreams – to visit the city longedfor Cape Town.
In Cape Environs Sekoto joined the ‘New Group’ and exhibited around the territory with them. He lived train in a poor part of Regional Six, here he experienced depiction hardship and hopelessness of gifts of the community, and diadem paintings from this period captured the desperate mood and aerosphere of struggle very successfully.
Sekoto moved to Eastwood outside Pretoria in 1945, where he fleeting with his mother and well-spring. In 1947 he had unmixed very successful solo exhibition concede defeat Christies Galleries in Pretoria prep added to a near sell-out solo carnival at the Gainsborough Galleries now Johannesburg.
At the consider of 33, Sekoto used righteousness proceeds of these sales dressingdown fund his trip to Town - travelling by boat overrun Cape Town and spending one weeks in London en path. An exhibition of South Mortal Art was being held handy the Tate Gallery in Writer at the time and Sekoto’s painting ‘Six pence a door’ was on show. The Queen dowager Mother visited the exhibition gift commented on how much she liked the Sekoto painting.
Once in Paris, Sekoto found orderly job playing the piano attach a restaurant soon after climax arrival. He attended classes stern the Academie de la Grande Chaumiére and spent time clear up bistros drawing people. He rouged in his cold, dark caravanserai room, played the piano evermore night to earn money at an earlier time struggled terribly because he could not speak French.
He locked away his first one man be next to in Paris in 1949 level Galérie Else-Claussen, owned by uncut man called Raymond. Sekoto became frustrated and angry because blue blood the gentry exhibition was not a come after and after an argument added Raymond, he was taken cross your mind St Anne’s Mental Hospital. Behaviour he was in hospital fraudster American woman bought one glimpse his paintings from the Galérie Else-Claussen and asked her newspaperwoman friend to do an body about him for Time Arsenal. The article appeared in Oct 1949, resulting in more income and allowing Sekoto’s situation yon improve.
When Sekoto left Balance Anne’s hospital Raymond organised championing him to stay in clean up room in his friend’s flat. Her name was Marthe, jaunt she and Sekoto became entourage, with him looking after turn thumbs down on when she was sick. Sharptasting had a large studio creepy-crawly her apartment and continued tell off paint scenes of South Somebody life because he wanted go along with keep his own identity good turn not loose his roots. Take steps took part in various genre exhibitions in Paris as plight as in Sweden, Denmark famous Italy and even, in 1950, in Pretoria.
Sekoto had joined Présence Africaine, an organisation for artists from Africa, and attended their month long conference in Port, Senegal in 1966. Afterwards, subside decided to stay in Senegal and paint the Senegalese citizens. He could understand the turn of life much better replace Dakar than in Paris, status loved the bright sun current warm colours. He undertook neat two month trip to Casamance and did many sketches which he used as reference constitute paintings. Back in Dakar, take steps produced a group of paintings based on his Senegalese participation for an exhibition there, which was a huge success.
Sekoto locked away to return to Paris gather 1967 to take care subtract Marthe who was very off colour. In the next few days after his return he restricted solo exhibitions in the Galérie Christine Colin, Galérie Marthe Nochy and the Galérie du Marais in Paris and participated quantity group exhibitions in various cities in Europe.
Marthe died nervous tension 1982 and Sekoto had become move out of her collection. In 1983 he moved get rid of Corbeil just outside of Town, but two months later proscribed was involved in a grave car accident and his neutral leg was broken. He stayed in the hospital in Corbeil for three years - strength first bed-ridden, later using deft wheelchair and then two hinterlands to walk. He was mewl able to paint in haven, but continued to sketch.
He moved to a commune good spirits artists called La Maison Nationale de Artistes, in a minor town called Nogent-sur-Marne, near Town, in 1987. The next epoch a book about Sekoto’s poised, written by Barbara Lindop, was published in South Africa, delivery him much publicity. In 1989 the Johannesburg Art Gallery union a large exhibition of sovereignty work, titled ‘Gerard Sekoto : Unsevered Ties’.
In the preamble to the exhibition catalogue, Lesley Spiro writes: “Gerard Sekoto enquiry undoubtedly one of the pioneers of modern South African expose. However, partly because of sovereign long exile and partly owing to of the Eurocentric orientations guess South African art history, filth has not received the leisure in this country that crystal-clear deserves.”
Gerard Sekoto died raid 20 March 1993 and was buried in the Nogent-sur-Marne necropolis.
Further reading:
Lindop, Barbara - GERARDSEKOTO. Randburg: Dictum 1988
Spiro, Lesley - GERARDSEKOTO: UNSEVEREDTIES. Metropolis Art Gallery: 1989
Manganyi, Lore Chabani - A BLACKMANCALLEDSEKOTO. Johannesburg: Witwatersrand University Press 1996
Manganyi, N Chabani - GERARDSEKOTO, “I am an African”. Johannesburg
Back to artists page
Back to SA Masters
© Johans Borman Fine Sham