BACKGROUND:
Gerard Sekoto left South Africa on board the Carnarvon Castle in September 1947. He arrived in Paris in the November winter of 1947. He found accommodation on the Ile St Louis, where his circumstances were difficult, with little funding and being forced to wrap himself in newspaper to keep warm.
South Africa, before the legalizing of Apartheid by the State in 1948, treated black South Africans as second-class citizens. Despite this, Sekoto had achieved success with art sales at recognized commercial art galleries, and his growing recognition had enabled him to save enough to pay his ship’s passage.
In Paris, Sekoto befriended an art dealer, Raymond de Cardonne, who offered him his first exhibition in 1949 at his gallery Else Clausen (named after his Danish wife) in the Rue des Beaux Arts. There, nothing sold, ending in a drunken argument where de Cardonne called the police. They arrive to find a drunk black man, declared him ‘fou’ and took him to the St. Anne Hospital. De Cardonne, mortified, arrived the next morning with a gift of a notebook and charcoal, and whilst recovering in the hospital, over a period of 3 months, Sekoto’s fortunes changed.
De Cardonne sent an American journalist to St Anne to interview Sekoto. The British Queen Mother had recently opened the 1948 travelling exhibition of South African Art at the Tate Museum. When asked to identify her preferred artwork, she pointed to the canvas by Sekoto and said ‘the one by the native artist’. The journalist interviewed Sekoto, and the article appeared in Time.
De Cardonne was friendly with Marthe Hennebert, the acclaimed muse to Rainer Maria Rilke. She had asked James Baldwin to vacate her apartment at 15 Rue des Grands Augustins, as he was unable to pay his rent. Sekoto was introduced and accepted as a tenant. In time Sekoto and Marthe became life partners, with Marthe encouraging Sekoto’s career.
The earliest documented version of a View of the Seine from the Pont Marie is dated to 1948-9. The tones of the palette are sombre whilst the heavy foliage of the trees suggests the painting was painted in summer on a cloudy day. In this early Parisian oil painting, the softened colour palette is immediately noticeable. The effect of light on colour is tangible and highlights the noticeable difference in the colour interpretations of Sekoto’s pre-exile oeuvre.
As early as 1940, Sekoto’s acutely sensitive colour sense was admired and noted by South African art critics in their newspaper commentary suggesting only his drawing skills needed improvement. To this end Sekoto enrolled for a short period in Paris at the Grande Chaumiere.
Once Sekoto moved to 15 Rue des Grands Augustins in 1949, a new development occurred where Sekoto began to paint repeated series of related subject matter.
Whilst in South Africa he would make quick pencil sketches of his chosen subject matter. He remained secretive, disliking people peering over his shoulder. He would return to his studio to develop these sketches into individual, unique art works.
In Paris, he developed ‘memory’ of South African compositions, and the idea would re-appear over several years/decades in different tonal interpretations. His habit of making secretive sketches continued but now subject matter was re-explored in different interpretations of colour with similar composition.
View Along the Seine, 1970 (signed oil on board 32 x 40 cm) and 1971 (signed oil on board 32 x 39.5 cm) suggest both were painted from a similar vantage point, in summer, with the green tree foliage as the focal point. A darker blue shadow is cast across the imagery in the earlier version blocking the building’s details behind. In the later version, the tower of the Palais de Justice becomes the focus accentuated by the tree in front. The placement on the right of the pedestrians walking along the quai are similar in both compositions, suggesting Sekoto may have relied on the same sketch to produce both works. However, the second version introduces three pedestrians on the left quai. The 1970 version suggests a brighter day in its interpretation of light and movement on the ripples in the water.
In response to my questions regarding these paintings, Sekoto confirms he had not wandered far from the Rue des Grands Augustins in search of inspiration: this part of Paris was close to the street I used to live in. The light is used as part of construction - to elongate and give rhythm, with light and shade.
View Along the Seine, 1980 (signed oil on canvas 45 x 32 cm) reproduces the identical vantage point of the earlier works. The bright light of the sunny day is reflected in the colour palette with the blues softened by the introduction of pink and mauve tones. All evidence of humanity has been removed, and the focus is now on the calm waters of the river and the greenery of the branches of the trees. Soft floating clouds confirm the tranquility of the atmosphere. The red roof of the building on the right is clearly accentuated and centres the composition, reinforced by the repeat of red in the shadows under the tunnels of the bridge. The bridge has been brought closer into the composition, allowing for freedom of artistic expression and a compacted view.
NOTE:
Sekoto thought, spoke and painted rhythmically, viewing line and colour as alternative expressions of harmonization. His earliest childhood memories relate to music and the musicality of growing up, singing in the church his priest father had built and where they worshipped. He recalls his father buying his brother and Sekoto a harmonium on which he taught himself to play.
In the 50’s, he played for several years in the popular nightclub L’Echelle de Jacob in the rue Jacob, composing the music and lyrics. Enthusiastic revelers persuaded Sekoto to play whilst sending him free glasses of wine. The bar has closed and is presently empty.
Barbara Lindop
