4th Mar, 2021 19:00

Modern & Contemporary Art

 
Lot 43
 
Lot 43 - Gerard Sekoto (South Africa 1913-1993)

43

Gerard Sekoto (South Africa 1913-1993)
Man at a desk

gouache on paper|

Artwork date: 1945
Signature details: signed bottom left
Exhibited: Johannesburg Art Gallery, Johannesburg, Gerard Sekoto: Unreserved ties, 1 November 1989 to 10 February 1990.
Literature: Spiro, L. (1989). Gerard Sekoto: Unreserved ties. Johannesburg: Johannesburg Art Gallery, illustrated in colour on p.80.

Sold for R342,090
Estimated at R300,000 - R400,000


 

gouache on paper|

Artwork date: 1945
Signature details: signed bottom left
Exhibited: Johannesburg Art Gallery, Johannesburg, Gerard Sekoto: Unreserved ties, 1 November 1989 to 10 February 1990.
Literature: Spiro, L. (1989). Gerard Sekoto: Unreserved ties. Johannesburg: Johannesburg Art Gallery, illustrated in colour on p.80.

(1)

71 x 54 cm; Framed Size: 103 x 118 x 6 cm

Private Collection, Johannebsurg.

Notes:

For those familiar with modernity’s emergence in the canon of art history, this intimate portrayal by Gerard Sekoto of a man at his desk carries notable compositional similarities to post-impressionist Vincent Van Gogh’s The Bedroom (also affectionately known as Bedroom in Arles) from 1888.Sekoto himself had been shown copies of the great Dutch painter’s works in the 1930s whilst teaching at the Khaiso Secondary School. His colleague, the artist Ernest Mancoba, much admired the works and used them as a comparison for the struggle that both Mancoba and Sekoto faced as black artists in a segregated South Africa.Van Gogh’s bedroom in bright, contrasting colours was created (along with a series of works of the same theme) shortly after the artist’s arrival in Arles in the South of France. Sekoto, in comparison, painted this more subdued interior scene upon his arrival in Eastwood, Pretoria, where he resided with his mother and stepfather in the years prior to his self-exile to Paris.Unbeknownst to Sekoto, just years after his depiction of this humble bedroom in Eastwood, the suburb would fall victim to forced removals, and its population relocated – along with the communities of Sophiatown – to the Ga-Rankuwa township. This private view and sincere depiction of a man quietly working at his desk, gives unique representation to, and intimate insight into a since uprooted community.Today, Pretoria acts as a symbol of South Africa’s democracy, and Eastwood is a suburb populated by embassies and ambassadors—situated less than a kilometre from the Union Buildings, where in 1994 South Africa’s first democratically elected leader Nelson Mandela was inaugurated.

Lisa Truter

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Auction: Modern & Contemporary Art, 4th Mar, 2021

Aspire Art Auctions’ Cape Town sale proved that the market for African and international art continues to thrive despite the pandemic.

The top lot by value was Irma Stern’s Dahlias and fruit, one of the most outstanding paintings from her late period, which achieved an impressive R5,234,800. Marlene Dumas scored a sensational hit when her early painting, Score, sold for R3,414,000, and stellar results were also achieved for celebrated artists; William Kentridge, George Pemba, Gerard Sekoto and Peter Clarke, amongst others, with world records at auction set for contemporary artists Turiya Magadlela and Gerhard Marx.

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