African Profile: GERARD SEKOTO is considered by many the ‘Father of South African Art’. Some of his works have achieved extremely high values in the international art market with pieces carried in private and corporate collections around the world. In his country of birth however, he is still relatively ‘unknown’ amongst the general public. This year South Africa celebrates 100 years of his birth with a exhibition in Johannesburg.
Gerard Sekoto (1913-1993), was an artist and musician. He is recognised as the pioneer of urban black art and social realism. He has also had exhibitions in Paris, Stockholm, Venice, Washington, Senegal.
At the age of 34 he left South Africa to live in Paris under self-imposed exile. 1966 he visited Senegal for a year. Sekoto's paintings became political in the 1970s due to apartheid in his home country. In 1989 the Johannesburg Art Gallery honoured him with a retrospective exhibition and the University of Witwatersrand with an honorary doctorate. See his works at: http://www.art.co.za/gerardsekoto/

“Song of the Pick” (1946) is made on Oil on canvas board