Portrait (1976) framed Gouache on paper by Gerard Sekoto. POA

S1047 A rare example of Gerard Sekoto’s (1913-1993) work painted in 1976. Framed Gouache on paper. 54cm x 37cm. Sekoto’s work is highly collectable and can be an excellent long term investment. One of his paintings, “Donkeys” (see photo) was sold last year by Bonhams for £277,000. Please contact Terry for the price of this piece. Gerard Skeet biography. Gerard Sekoto biography. - Gerard Sekoto's contributions to South African art and music have been vital elements in South Africa's cultural development in the twentieth century. Most notably, Sekoto was the first black artist to have a picture purchased for a museum collection, following an acquisition by the Johannesburg Art Gallery in 1940. The artist's rural upbringing in the Lutheran Mission Station in Botshabelo and periods of residence in Johannesburg, Cape Town and Pretoria nourished his perspective on the South African people, primarily the impoverished black population. Sekoto (1913 -1993) had trained as a school teacher but decided, as a self-taught artist, to launch his professional art career in 1938. He left the rural areas of northern South Africa to travel to Johannesburg where free association between different races was still possible. Here he was introduced to the liberal artistic White community and amongst others, met an artist, Judith Gluckman, who offered to teach him how to paint with oils. He quickly assimilated these techniques and was soon recognised as a notable artist in Johannesburg art circles. He wished to familiarise himself with the country and in 1942, having sold enough paintings to pay his way, travelled to Cape Town to live in District 6 and then to Eastwood, Pretoria in 1945. Apartheid policies, legislated from 1948, resulted in the destruction of Sophiatown, District 6 and Eastwood in the 1950s. Sekoto's paintings remain as vivid historical records of these vibrant urban environments and the people who lived there. In 1947 Sekoto left South Africa in voluntary exile for Paris, planning to expose himself to what he believed would be the centre of the international art world. The artist would never to return to the country that inspired his stirring and colourful depictions of cultural activity and racial tensions. Sekoto's position as one of South Africa's first and most important modernists and social realists has been reinforced by a retrospective exhibition of his work at the Johannesburg Art Gallery in 1989, an honorary doctorate from the University of Witwatersrand, the presence of his work at the South African National Gallery, record sales of his paintings at recent auctions in London and Johannesburg, and a recent mural-painting project featuring Sekoto's work as painted by apprentices though the Gerard Sekoto Foundation.
Gerard Sekoto was a South African artist and musician. He is recognized as the pioneer of urban black art and social realism. His work was exhibited in Paris, Stockholm, Venice, Washington, and Senegal, as well as in South Africa.
Gerard Sekoto's contributions to South African art and music have been vital elements in South Africa's cultural development in the twentieth century. Most notably, Sekoto was the first black artist to have a picture purchased for a museum collection, following an acquisition by the Johannesburg Art Gallery in 1940. The artist's rural upbringing in the Lutheran Mission Station in Botshabelo and periods of residence in Johannesburg, Cape Town and Pretoria nourished his perspective on the South African people, primarily the impoverished black population. Sekoto (1913 -1993) had trained as a school teacher but decided, as a self-taught artist, to launch his professional art career in 1938. He left the rural areas of northern South Africa to travel to Johannesburg where free association between different races was still possible. Here he was introduced to the liberal artistic White community and amongst others, met an artist, Judith Gluckman, who offered to teach him how to paint with oils. He quickly assimilated these techniques and was soon recognised as a notable artist in Johannesburg art circles. He wished to familiarise himself with the country and in 1942, having sold enough paintings to pay his way, travelled to Cape Town to live in District 6 and then to Eastwood, Pretoria in 1945. Apartheid policies, legislated from 1948, resulted in the destruction of Sophiatown, District 6 and Eastwood in the 1950s. Sekoto's paintings remain as vivid historical records of these vibrant urban environments and the people who lived there. In 1947 Sekoto left South Africa in voluntary exile for Paris, planning to expose himself to what he believed would be the centre of the international art world. The artist would never to return to the country that inspired his stirring and colourful depictions of cultural activity and racial tensions. Sekoto's position as one of South Africa's first and most important modernists and social realists has been reinforced by a retrospective exhibition of his work at the Johannesburg Art Gallery in 1989, an honorary doctorate from the University of Witwatersrand, the presence of his work at the South African National Gallery, record sales of his paintings at recent auctions in London and Johannesburg, and a recent mural-painting project featuring Sekoto's work as painted by apprentices though the Gerard Sekoto Foundation.
Gerard Sekoto was a South African artist and musician. He is recognized as the pioneer of urban black art and social realism. His work was exhibited in Paris, Stockholm, Venice, Washington, and Senegal, as well as in South Africa.
Artist Biography
The tradition of black artists in South Africa has, until recently, been neglected. However, in the last ten years a new art history has developed from a growing awareness of the omissions of the past. At the forefront of this reassessment is the work of Gerard Sekoto.
Born on 9 December 1913 at Botshabelo, a German Lutheran Mission Station in the then Easten Transvaal, (now Bophuthatswane).
When Sekoto was five years old, his father was posted by the Lutheran Church to their mission school on the farm Wonderhoek, also in the Middelburg District. Here Sekoto spent his most formative years. He nurtured the memories of his rural childhood for the rest of his life, and in many of his letters he dwells at great length on the experiences of his youth and early family life. The love and security he was shown as a child were a source of solace and strength during the difficult years of his exile.
Sekoto started drawing early but did not have access to colour pencils until he was a teenager. The introduction to colour revolutionized his work. Periods of residence in Sophiatown, Johannesburg, District Six, Cape Town, and Eastwood, Pretoria produced vibrant and powerful pieces evoking both the colourful cultural activity and the tensions of the townships. The paintings from this time are historical records of a now extinct way of life. All three areas were bulldozed in the fifties and sixties. In 1947 Sekoto made the momentous decision to leave the country of birth and travel to Paris - like many voluntary and involuntary exiles, he was never to return to South Africa. France brought new inspiration and Sekoto re-worked many subjects and explored different themes, al characterized by a deep sense of humanity.
Towards the end of his life, Sekoto's art increasingly gained recognition mainly through the pioneering work of Barbara Lindop. Her research brought to life many paintings thought to have been lost, and, through her correspondence with Sekoto, she was able to confirm details of his life before his death in 1993. In this book, Lindop introduces the extraordinary life story of Gerard Sekoto accompanied by full colour plates of his most powerful, stirring works of art.
Artist CV
Artist Photo
1913: Born 9 December at Lutheran Mission School at Botshabelo near Middelburg, Transvaal.
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS
2013: Gerard Seko