How a South African teacher became a pioneer of urban black art in Paris.

Art · Published 3 October 2026 Swipe more like this →

In short: Gerard Sekoto was a reluctant artist who hid his paintings from everyone but his closest friends. He eventually left South Africa for a self-imposed exile in Paris, where he reinvented himself as a jazz musician and painter, capturing the human condition of urban life through a groundbreaking social lens.

Born in 1913 at a Lutheran mission station, Gerard Sekoto was the son of a teacher and priest. His early exposure to art occurred at the Diocesan Teachers Training College in Pietersburg, where he befriended the sculptor Ernest Mancoba. While Mancoba encouraged his artistic pursuits, Sekoto found himself at odds with the school's rigid, prescribed approach to sculpture, preferring to develop his own style of painting and drawing.

After teaching for four years, Sekoto moved to Johannesburg in 1938 to pursue art full-time. His career reached a historic milestone in 1940 when the Johannesburg Art Gallery purchased one of his works, marking the first time a museum collection acquired a painting by a black artist. His time in Pretoria during the mid-1940s is often considered his golden period, representing the final body of work he completed before departing for France.

In 1947, Sekoto entered a self-imposed exile in Paris. The transition was difficult, and he survived by playing piano and singing at a nightclub called l'Echelle de Jacob. Between 1956 and 1960, he composed 29 songs that reflected the loneliness of his displacement. Despite the hardships of living in a foreign cultural environment, he continued to document his experiences through drawings and photography, leaving behind a legacy as a pioneer who introduced a vital social perspective to South African art.

Sekoto’s influence lies in his ability to bring the sociological circumstances of urban black life to the forefront of the canvas. By prioritizing the human situation, he challenged the artistic conventions of his time. His work, which spanned from watercolors and pastels to oil paintings, remains a testament to his resilience and his status as a central figure in the history of South African visual expression.

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