Today in History: South African artist, Gerard Sekoto, dies
Gerard Sekoto's brilliance in the arts was not limited to just his paintings.
On this day in 1993, South African artist and musician Gerard Sekoto died in Paris at the age of 80.
Often cited as the pioneer of urban black art and social realism, Gerard studied to be a teacher and his art career only began in earnest when he moved to Sophiatown, Johannesburg in 1939. Life in Sophiatown provided him with his subject matter, and he painted urban images of active scenes in the community in bold colours, in an expressionist style.
He held his first solo exhibition in 1939 and in 1940, the Johannesburg Art Gallery purchased one of his pictures. This was to be the first picture painted by a black artist to enter a museum collection. In 1942, Gerard moved to District Six in Cape Town and in 1945 he moved again to Eastwood, Pretoria.
In his paintings, he used strong bright colours and unusual perspectives to convey the lively vitality and spontaneity of urban street life, despite the hardship of life in Sophiatown and District Six. His artwork is highly sought after by collectors, but a lesser known fact is that he could play several musical instruments.
In 1947, just before the National Party came to power, Gerard left South Africa for Paris. He was employed as a pianist purely by chance at l’Echelle de Jacob (Jacob’s ladder), a trendy nightclub/bar that reopened for business after the war.
Between 1956 and 1960, several of Gerard’s compositions were published by Les Editions Musicales, and he played piano and sang on several records. He composed 29 songs, mostly excessively poignant, recalling the loneliness of exile, yet displaying the inordinate courage of someone battling to survive in a foreign cultural environment.
Information courtesy of: https://www.sahistory.org.za/dated-event/south-african-artist-gerard-sekoto-dies.
