Gerard Sekoto (1913- 1993)

1. Gerard Sekoto (1913- 1993)

2. Write a paragraph of analysis on the Sekoto work, using the following headings To help you structure it. In your first sentence note the possible influence of artists like Van Gogh and German Expressionists such as Kirchner. In your second sentence, note how Sekoto develops his own language. Poverty in the Midst of Plenty (1939) Texture: scumble technique; rendering of basket weave, walls and robe is effective Space: forms pressed against picture plane; claustrophobia Unity: head acts as a fulcrum; radiating lines Contrast: large shapes vs. small shapes; yellow ochre vs. white Emphasis: pose of the figure; we identify with his thoughts

3. Write a paragraph of analysis on the Sekoto work, using the following headings To help you structure it. In your first sentence note the possible influence of artists like Mondrian and Van Gogh. In your second sentence, note how Sekoto develops his own language. Street Scene (1939) Line: geometric; organic Colour: primaries; vibrancy and harmony Space: shallow recessional space; evokes two-dimensional quality of mass-housing Texture: corrugated areas; blurred lines Emphasis: figures at edges of format; central area of emptiness

4. Write a paragraph of analysis on the Sekoto work, using the following headings to help you structure it. In your first sentence note the possible influence of artists like Kirchner, Mondrian and Picasso. In your second sentence, note how Sekoto develops his own language. Prison Yard (1944) Form: geometric; reduction of identity Contrast: dark and light; warm colours / cold colours Rhythm: repetition evokes movement; prison warder has more vigorous movement Space: diagonals create unnatural distorted space; flattening against picture plane Emphasis: prison warder isolated through difference; controlling force in environment

5. Song of the Pick (1946 – 47) Line: repeated diagonal lines; curved lines evoke idea of unified movement Tone: extreme darks and lights; simplified tones Rhythm: a pattern is set up across the work; idea of one unified movement Form: bodies reduced to basic geometric forms; background created using three horizontal bands Emphasis: no focal point; evokes de-humanisation and / or possible resistance Write a paragraph of analysis on the Sekoto work, using the following headings to help you structure it. In your first sentence note the possible influence of any one of these artists. In your second sentence, note how Sekoto develops his own language.

6. Historically, there was little documentation on the life of black Artists working in South Africa. Apartheid permeated South African society as a whole, influencing attitudes outside of politics, and shaping scholastic opinions. Sekoto was born on 9 December, 1913 at Bothshabelo, a German Lutheran Mission Station. His father was a teacher, and later an evangelist. Sekoto’s mother tongue was Pedi, Northern Sotho. In 1947, Sekoto left for 46 years in voluntary exile in Paris, where he died in 1993.

7. Sekoto’s rural childhood memories were treasured for his whole life, and were a source of solace and strength. At 17, he was sent to the Diocesan Training College near Pietersburg to train as a primary school teacher. Contemporaries included Ernest Mancoba and Georges Pemba, artists who were also trained as schoolteachers. Sekoto taught for four years at Khaiso School, near Pietersburg, in the Northern Transvaal. In 1937, he was awarded second prize in a national Bantu art competition. Ernest Mancoba, who also taught at the school, encouraged him to paint, showing him paintings by Van Gogh, and using Van Gogh’s life to show that life was indeed a struggle. When Sekoto’s father died in 1938, he no longer had an obligation to fulfil his dream for him to be a teacher and was free to pursue his own aims. His works may be examined into three periods for study purposes: the late 1930s in Sophiatown; the early 1940s in District Six; and, the latter 1940s in Eastwood, Pretoria. Less characteristic works were made in Paris from 1947 onwards.

8. First Period – Works from the Late 1930s: Sophiatown In 1939, Sekoto went to live with cousins in Sophiatown, Johannesburg. Discovering cheap supplies in a general store, he experimented with poster paint on brown cardboard in works such as Poverty in the Midst of Plenty (1939).

9. Poverty in the Midst of Plenty (1939) Identify theFIVE most obvious art elements or principles of design that have been used in this work.

10. Poverty in the Midst of Plenty (1939) Texture Contrast Space Unity Emphasis

11. Texture: scumble technique; rendering of basket weave, walls and robe is effective Contrast: large shapes vs. small shapes; yellow ochre vs. white Space: forms pressed against picture plane; claustrophobia Unity: head acts as a fulcrum; radiating lines Emphasis: pose of the figure; we identify with his thoughts Poverty in the Midst of Plenty (1939)

12. The vigorous brushstrokes of artists like Vincent Van Gogh – evident in works such as Sunflowers and Self Portrait (Dedicated To Gauguin) (both 1888) – was possibly an influence on works such as Poverty in the Midst of Plenty (1939).

13. In addition, the distortion of the human figure using expressive brushstrokes by German Expressionists such as Kirchner was surely also an influence. .

14. Write a paragraph of analysis on the Sekoto work, using the following headings To help you structure it. In your first sentence note the possible influence of artists like Van Gogh and German Expressionists such as Kirchner. In your second sentence, note how Sekoto develops his own language. Poverty in the Midst of Plenty (1939) Texture: scumble technique; rendering of basket weave, walls and robe is effective Space: forms pressed against picture plane; claustrophobia Unity: head acts as a fulcrum; radiating lines Contrast: large shapes vs. small shapes; yellow ochre vs. white Emphasis: pose of the figure; we identify with his thoughts

15. A friend encouraged him to show his work to Reverend Castle, a teacher at St. Peters School in Rosettenville, Johannesburg. . Castle was so impressed that he offered Sekoto free board and lodging at the school, enabling him to attend the school’s art classes. Soon after, he was offered a temporary six-week teaching post at the school. Castle also organised Sekoto’s first exhibition at the Gainsborough Galleries. A newspaper critic noted: “The paintings by Gerard Sekoto are the outstanding feature of this exhibition . . . His canvases are marked by extremely good colour and drawing”

16. Lutheran Church at Botshabelo (1939)

17. The motivating force behind works was his desire to use art to communicate through the ‘inter-linking chains of humanity’. “ My efforts when I was in Sophiatown were to arouse the consciousness in our own people of the horrible conditions in which they lived. Such an awakening would create power to demand the right and knowledge to be able to live like everyone else in the country.” Although many of the depictions of Sophiatown have a lyrical quality, the actual reality of the sordid surroundings is made apparent in different ways in each of the Sophiatown paintings.

18. Interior Sophiatown (1939)

19. Identify theFIVE most obvious art elements or principles of design that have been used in this work. Street Scene (1939)

20. Line Colour Space Texture Emphasis Street Scene (1939) Hints at the influence of the De Stijl artist Piet Mondrian (1872-1944).

21. Line: geometric; organic Colour: primaries; vibrancy and harmony Space: shallow recessional space; evokes two-dimensional quality of mass-housing Texture: corrugated areas; blurred lines Emphasis: figures at edges of format; central area of emptiness Street Scene (1939)

22. Write a paragraph of analysis on the Sekoto work, using the following headings To help you structure it. In your first sentence note the possible influence of artists like Mondrian and Van Gogh. In your second sentence, note how Sekoto develops his own language. Street Scene (1939) Line: geometric; organic Colour: primaries; vibrancy and harmony Space: shallow recessional space; evokes two-dimensional quality of mass-housing Texture: corrugated areas; blurred lines Emphasis: figures at edges of format; central area of emptiness

23. Hotel Bantu (1939)

24. Yellow Houses, Sophiatown (1940)

25. In 1940, the Johannesburg Art Gallery purchased Yellow Houses, Sophiatown, and until 1980 Sekoto’s work remained the only painting in the gallery by a black South African artist. (This same gallery had turned down his application to be a floor cleaner because of his skin colour.) Sekoto denied having been influenced by training or exposure to other artist’s work. He did not try to conform to stylistic traditions, or comply with conventional taste. Although his intuitive sense of colour links his work to Post-Impressionists like Gauguin and Van Gogh, he is separated from them by his subject matter. He looked to the black people around him for inspiration. His style of work was termed “figurative expressionistic” and he was often referred to as a “social realist”.

26. Sekoto painted with deep feeling and active sympathy for the black South Africans whose soul was daily being crushed and bruised in his own Africa. He used strong and bright colours such as red, orange and black. His brushstroke was spontaneous and vital. Sekoto also employed unconventional viewpoints, and handled form through distortion and unusual perspective. He placed emphasis on tonal modelling of form.

27. Three Women (1940 -42)

28. Second Period - Works from the Early 1940s: District Six Reverend Castle introduced Sekoto to George Manuel, a Journalist living in District Six, Cape Town, and arranged for Sekoto, his mother and sisters to live in a house opposite the Roeland Street jail. This place was a great source of inspiration for Sekoto. His social / political commentary is implicit in these compositions: he seldom portrayed white people, and then only as warders or foremen. In 1943, three of Sekoto’s paintings were included in an Exhibition of the New Group. This was an association of white South African avante garde artists whose main objective was to Upgrade the overall standard of South African art and increase Public awareness of it.

29. Prison Yard (1944) Identify theFIVE most obvious art elements or principles of design that have been used in this work.

30. Form Contrast Rhythm Space Emphasis Prison Yard (1944)

31. Form: geometric; reduction of identity Contrast: dark and light; warm colours / cold colours Rhythm: repetition evokes movement; prison warder has more vigorous movement Space: diagonals create unnatural distorted space; flattening against picture plane Emphasis: prison warder isolated through difference; controlling force in environment Prison Yard (1944)

32. One can see the influence of Cubism in the analysis o form as geometric facets in this work. Prison Yard (1944)

33. Write a paragraph of analysis on the Sekoto work, using the following headings to help you structure it. In your first sentence note the possible influence of artists like Kirchner, Mondrian and Picasso. In your second sentence, note how Sekoto develops his own language. Prison Yard (1944) Form: geometric; reduction of identity Contrast: dark and light; warm colours / cold colours Rhythm: repetition evokes movement; prison warder has more vigorous movement Space: diagonals create unnatural distorted space; flattening against picture plane Emphasis: prison warder isolated through difference; controlling force in environment

34. Houses: District Six (1943-45)

35. His social / political commentary is implicit in these compositions: he seldom portrayed white people, and then only as warders or foremen. In 1943, three of Sekoto’s paintings were included in an Exhibition of the New Group. This was an association of white South African avante garde artists whose main objective was to Upgrade the overall standard of South African art and increase Public awareness of it.

36. The Wine Drinker (1943-45)

37. Third Period - Works from the Mid- to Latter 1940s: Eastwood In 1945, Sekoto moved to Eastwood, a black township near Pretoria. He shared a house with his mother and stepfather, and his brother Bernard and his wife, Mary. These were the’ golden years’ of Sekoto’s art and he painted prolifically, concentrating on oil paint. He was able to capture the transient moments of everyday township life with an intuitive sense of colour and assured brush marks. Like Sophiatown, District Six and many other communities, Eastwood was bulldozed to the ground in the early apartheid years. Sekoto’s paintings serve as historical records of these destroyed communities.

38. Self-Portrait (1946-7) Identify theFIVE most obvious art elements or principles of design that have been used in this work.

39. Portrait of Anna, the Artist’s Mother (1946-47)

40. The Artist’s Mother and Stepfather at Home in Eastwood (1946 – 47)

41. The Proud Father - Manakedi on Bernard Sekoto’s Knee (1947)

42. Outside the Shop (1946-47)

43. Sixpence a Door (1946 – 47)

44. “ Our home was close to the playing ground which was the centre of the township. On Sundays, Zulu dancers would come and put up a tent. People would be eager to see inside, but many would hang around with curiosity as they did not have the sixpence to spend:” Sekoto Sekoto set up the easel and painted the scene in front of him. This painting was included in an exhibition which travelled between 1948 and 1950 to Belgium, France, Netherlands, Canada and the United States. At the opening of the Tate, the Queen Mother acclaimed that she liked the one by the “native artist” the most, and Sekoto was launched into the limelight. The painting was sold in 1991 for R 186 000.

45. Identify theFIVE most obvious art elements or principles of design that have been used in this work. Song of the Pick (1946 – 47)

46. Line Tone Rhythm Form Emphasis Song of the Pick (1946 – 47)

47. Line: repeated diagonal lines; curved lines evoke idea of unified movement Tone: extreme darks and lights; simplified tones Rhythm: a pattern is set up across the work; idea of one unified movement Form: bodies reduced to basic geometric forms; background created using three horizontal bands Emphasis: no focal point; evokes both dehumanisation and / or possible resistance Song of the Pick (1946 – 47)

48. The distortion of German Expressionism is also visible. The influence of the geometric grid of horizontals and verticals of De Stijl is evident in this work. One can also see the influence of Cubism in the analysis of form as geometric facets.

49. Song of the Pick (1946 – 47) Line: repeated diagonal lines; curved lines evoke idea of unified movement Tone: extreme darks and lights; simplified tones Rhythm: a pattern is set up across the work; idea of one unified movement Form: bodies reduced to basic geometric forms; background created using three horizontal bands Emphasis: no focal point; evokes de-humanisation and / or possible resistance Write a paragraph of analysis on the Sekoto work, using the following headings to help you structure it. In your first sentence note the possible influence of any one of these artists. In your second sentence, note how Sekoto develops his own language.

50. Song of the Pick is one of the most politically explicit compositions, inspired by a black and white photograph which Sekoto kept with him all his life. He reworked this theme again and again in his life. In 1947, the financial support from his patrons, mainly Jewish intellectuals, enabled him to leave the country for Paris. The tragic irony is that he was forced to pay a high personal price for his political freedom, as his art slowly lost its strength and character.