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Signed and dated ‘G SEKOTO 74’ (lower right).
Sizes:
Artwork: 51 × 65.5 cm | 20.1 × 25.8 in
A dusty township street under a pale sky: a man in a white hat pushes a bicycle, a woman in a blue blouse walks towards us with a bundle balanced on her head, neighbours gather in the middle distance between low houses and bare trees. Painted in Paris in 1974, this is one of Gerard Sekoto’s memory pictures of South Africa — the Sophiatown and Eastwood of his youth, recalled after nearly three decades of exile.
Sekoto (1913–1993) left South Africa in 1947 and never returned, but the township remained his subject. In the 1970s his palette warmed to these sandy pinks and ochres, the figures simplified into strong, rhythmic silhouettes, the shadows laid down in a few decisive strokes. The composition here is classic Sekoto: a street receding on the diagonal, the two foreground figures moving in opposite directions, the crowd behind them held in a single band of colour.
Signed and dated ‘G SEKOTO 74’ in red at the lower right, the painting comes from a French private collection.
Private Collection, France. Acquired from the above by the current owner.
Oil on canvas, unframed, on a later stretcher. The paint layer is stable; faint stretcher-bar marks and light surface dust; no losses observed. Please contact us to request a detailed Condition Report.
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Gerard Sekoto is widely considered the father of modern Black art in South Africa. In 1947, shortly before the formal onset of Apartheid, he left for Paris to seek artistic freedom. There, he became a part of the vibrant Ecole de Paris, living a Bohemian life as both an artist and a pianist.
His work is celebrated for its dignity and profound empathy. Today, Sekoto is a national hero in South Africa, with his works held in the Johannesburg Art Gallery, the South African National Gallery, and the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art.
Discover the life, seminal paintings, and enduring legacy of Gerard Sekoto, the definitive pioneer of African modernism and social realism. Trace his extraordinary journey from Sophiatown and District Six to his long exile in Paris, and explore the artistic and auction impact of South Africa’s iconic master.
Highlights of the Aurora & Athena autumn sale on 17 October 2026: Bridget Tichenor, Nicholas Roerich, Konstantin Korovin, Gerard Sekoto, Jan Zrzavý, Pan Yuliang, a Miró lithograph and the painters of the École de Paris.
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