Gerard Sekoto (South Africa 1913-1993)
The Shebeen, Sophiatown

gouache on paper

Artwork date: circa 1939
Signature details: signed bottom right
Literature: Freschi, F. (ed.)(2009). 'Imaging and Imagining: South African art c 1896-2008'. Johannesburg: Graham's Fine Art Gallery, illustrated on p.183.
Exchange Rates*: USD 22 847,34 - 34 271,01
GBP 16 909,82 - 25 364,72
EURO 19 502,62 - 29 253,92

(1)

23.5 x 34 cm; framed size: 51 x 60 x 3.5 cm

Provenance:

Private collection, Johannesburg.

Graham's Gallery, Johannesburg.

Bonhams, The South African Sale, 30 January 2008, lot 161.

Ann Fischer Collection, thence by descent.

Acquired directly from the artist.

ABOUT THE ARTWORK

When Gerard Sekoto arrived in Johannesburg at the start of 1939, he stepped into a world that was as exciting as it was precarious. The death of his father the previous year had quietly altered the course of his life. Freed from the parental insistence on a respectable teaching career, Sekoto left his post at Khaiso Secondary School near Polokwane and travelled south with a singular resolve: to fulfil his ambition of becoming an artist.

In Sophiatown, Sekoto found what he had long imagined: an area alive with vitality. The streets were dense with movement; he later recalled: “women with baskets of shopping, some carrying baggage either on their heads or shoulders. Men of various styles of walking and clothing, some bicycle-riding or driving cars, although in those days car owners were rare in Sophiatown. There were also many children of varied appearance in attire and expression”.[1] For Sekoto, who described this energy as “a great stimulus,”[2] it was both spectacle and subject. His cousins’ home on Gerty Street became his sanctuary, offering a large room that doubled as a studio. There, he worked seated on the floor, spreading brown wrapping paper and dipping into glass jars of poster colour. A wide window framed the theatre of township life passing by outside, giving him a front-row view of the neighbourhood from which he drew much inspiration, often painting late into the evenings.[3]

The Shebeen, Sophiatown emerges from this charged environment as a painting drenched in atmosphere. Shebeens, informal bars run mostly by women, were both havens and hazards during this time: sites of laughter, music, and illicit beer, yet shadowed by the looming threat of police raids. Sekoto recalled the sudden scatter of bodies at the warning cry, women tipping beer into the ground, men vanishing to avoid arrest.[4] Yet within these walls, there was warmth and an unyielding impulse to gather despite constraint.

Sekoto captures this duality through his masterful use of light. A golden glow spills across a dimly lit interior, illuminating a central table and catching the outlines of bent heads and sloping shoulders. Faces glow with ochre and orange, while the enveloping shadows are rendered in sumptuous blues and violets. In the background, women bustle near steaming pots, while men in the foreground lean and sprawl in languid postures. The restricted palette of cool blue against molten yellow creates a mood both intimate and dramatic, evoking the secrecy of a clandestine gathering.

Here we witness the beginnings of Sekoto’s lifelong preoccupation with the human drama of urban African life. This work’s quiet brilliance, interpreting and meditating on resilience and fellowship, foreshadows the depth of vision that would define his career.

Amy Carrington

[^{1] Lindop, B. (1988). Gerard Sekoto. Randburg: Dictum, p.19.}

^{[2] Ibid.}

^{[3] Ibid.}

^{[4] Ibid, p.20.}

COLLECTIONS:

The artist is represented in numerous local and international collections, notably, the Municipal Collection of the City of Paris; Gallery Guildhall, Chicago; La Ville de Paris; The Nedbank Art Collection South Africa; The MTN Art Collection, South Africa; The South African Reserve Bank Collection, Johannesburg; The Sanlam Art Collection, Johannesburg; Standard Bank Collection, Johannesburg; Johannesburg Art Gallery; Javett Art Centre, Pretoria; Iziko South African National Gallery, Cape Town and the William Humphreys Art Gallery, Kimberley.