Issue no: 06
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09 DECEMBER 191320 MARCH 1993
Mega Artists Magazine takes time to
remember revolutionary artists. Artists
who by their work, a movement or style
of thinking and acting has started. A
synopsis of their background is
compiled, to bring light to our readers,
about this Mega Artist.
Jazz Band
On this month’s issue we shed light on a
peculiar style of art, called Oil Painting by
Sekoto who was born on 9 December
1913 – at the Lutheran Mission Station in
Botshabelo near Middelburg, Eastern
Transvaal (now known as Mpumalanga).
His art skills emerged in his teenage years,
when he attended the Diocesan Teachers
Training College in Pietersburg, unlike
most schools, it featured drawing classes
and other craftwork. On graduating he
taught at a local school, Khaiso Secondary,
for four years. During this time he entered
an art competition (the May Esther
Bedford) organised by the Fort Hare
University, for which he was awarded
second prize.
In 1938 at the age of 25 he left for
Woman Portrait
Johannesburg to pursue a career as an
artist. He lived with relatives in Gerty Street,
Sophiatown. He held his first solo exhibition
in 1939. In 1940 the Johannesburg Art
Gallery purchased one of his pictures; it was
to be the first picture painted by a black artist
to enter a museum collection.
COURTESY: www.wikipedia.org/GerardSekoto
www.megaartists.co.za
Nov-Dec 2015
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