Drawings by
Gerard Sekoto from the Sowetan Collection The death of
Sekoto gave special meaning to this exhibition, which was
composed to form a developmental sequence of his oeuvre.
There were 100 works on view, from 1938 to 1988. These
remarkable works have only recently begun to achieve
recognition and exposure.
Regarded as one of
the pioneers and even, more recently, as the father of South
African art, Sekoto ironically spent most of his productive
years in Paris. He was born on 9 December 1913, at the
Lutheran Mission Station in Botshabelo near Middelburg in
the Transvaal. At the age of six or seven, he was drawing on
his brother's slate. He received his first formal art
training at the Diocesan Training College to the west of
Pietersburg.
Sekoto qualified
as a teacher and began teaching at Khaiso School.
During this time
he entered an art competition organised by the Fort Hare
University, for which he was awarded second prize. He
subsequently left the teaching profession in order to
concentrate on his art.
Preceding his move
to France, he lived in various places, including Sophiatown,
District Six and Eastwood, Pretoria. He drew his inspiration
from his surroundings and depicted a wide range of subjects,
ranging from women talking among themselves to washday
scenes and workmen in teams.
These works are
extremely important for two reasons: they form a documentary
record of places which were later obliterated under the
apartheid regime, and they portray human conditions in a
manner which shows the artist's empathy for human
suffering.
Sekoto's life in
Paris was one of a struggle to survive. He worked nights in
clubs playing the piano to earn money. He obtained
recognition as an artist through his exhibitions in Paris,
Stockholm, Venice, Washington and Senegal.
Barbara Lindop's
study of Sekoto calls for a reassessment of the artist in
his motherland where he had largely been forgotten. He was
awarded an honorary doctorate at the University of the
Witwatersrand (1989), but was unfortunately unable to claim
it personally due to illness. He died in March 1993 at a
retirement home outside Paris.
27 January to 19 February 1994