Theme 1 The emerging voice of Black Art in the 50s & 60s (so called Township Art) Gerard

Sekoto.

Biography. Gerard Sekoto was born on the 9th of December 1913 and was born at the Lutheran Mission Station in Botshabelo near Middelburg. Sekoto was a famous South African artist as well as a musician. He was recognized as a pioneer of urban black art as well as social realism. Sekoto had eight daughters and three sons. In 1938 at the age of 29, Sekoto moved to Johannesburg to pursue his career as an artist. In 1939 he held his first solo exhibition and in 1940 the Johannesburg Art Gallery bought one of his artworks, this was the first pictures painted by a black artist to enter a museum collection. In 1942 he moved to District Six in Cape Town and began his famous oil paintings of township scenes. His work was displayed all over the world which includes: Paris, Stockholm, Venice, Washington, Senegal as well as South Africa. As a child his dream was to become a teacher, and thus graduated from teaching school and taught at Khaiso Secondary school. In 1945 to 1947 Sekoto lived with his mother and stepfather in the township of Eastwood, Pretoria, and in the late 1947s he departed for France, under self imposed exile. For the first 5 years he was employed as a pianist at a night club where he played Jazz. Gerard Sekotos paintings became political in the 1970s, due to the laws of apartheid and his most valuable artwork was his self portrait painting which sold for 117,600. Sekoto died at the age of 80 on the 20th of March 1993 in a retirement home outside Paris.

Gerard Sekoto, Portrait of artists mother, (1945 1947) Canvas board and oil paint.
This oil painting done by Gerard Sekoto in the 1940s has been done on a piece of canvasboard that was 49,3cm x 36,7cm. The painting was displayed at the University of South Africa. Gerard Sekotos portrait of his mother, Anna, offers the viewer a rare personal insight of the artist. Sekoto is well known for his oil painted, lively scenes of the now destroyed communities of Sophiatown in Johannesburg and District Six in Cape Town, where he lived between 1938 and 1945. By using cast shadow in a traditional manner, Sekoto places emphasis on sculptural volume, rendering the figure monumental, and a quality which suggests an encouraging permanence. Sekotos use of colour conveys the mood of early evening and adds a sense of relaxation and comfort. As the light fades, colours are reduced; leaving ochres and blues to capture the parting warmth of dusk. A luminous blue has been used to evoke spirituality, skies and depression which form a glowing atmosphere around the woman. Sekoto was one of the earliest black South Africans to pursue eases painting. This piece is Similar to most of his oil paintings in that he has applied the paint in energetic directional strokes which create further visual excitement. In this painting we can see a calm, thoughtful woman with her broad lap filled with material and a garment she is sewing, this is both a portrayal of Sekotos motherhood and a typical symbol of motherhood. Images of goddesses and Christian Madonnas are brought to mind by the womans flawless appearance.

This is a reflective portrait in which the features are somewhat generalized and are rendered with understanding and familiarity. Sekoto stayed with his mother and stepfather in the township of Eastwood from 1945 to 1947 and it is likely that this painting was done during this time.