Considered one of the pioneers of modernist and realist art in South Africa, Gerard Sekoto was the first black artist to have his work acquired by the Johannesburg Art Gallery in 1940. With a vibrant use of colour, his distinctive trait, he created moving representations of cultural life in the South African townships, focusing on the conditions of the black community and with particular reference to the racial tensions experienced during the long apartheid regime. Although he left the country forever in 1947 to go into voluntary exile in Paris, Sekoto’s artistic influence would represent a vital element for the cultural development of South Africa in the 20th century.
