Gerard Sekoto (South African, 1913-1993)


Portrait of a Woman signed and dated 'G SEKOTO 61' (lower right)oil on board 60 x 45cm (23 5/8 x 17 11/16in).
|This painting was most likely executed in the early 1960s, colloquially referred to as Sekoto's 'Blue Head' period. He produced a number of these portraits in blue and black paint, picking out the areas of high relief - cheekbones, the ridge of the nose, the forehead - in white. The artist later revealed that he selected these colours because they allowed him to create stronger contrasts than if he used a more naturalistic palette:"The poster colours I used were thick, but could be diluted very thin, almost like water colours when needed. But seeing they were thus thick, I took advantage and used them almost as oil...the reason for my using the blue was merely because I chose it and that it was sufficiently strong to contrast with warmer colours. Also I could make it into various tones with white and could vary other colours with it. Yet I just felt it dominant to use for the positive expressions of my heads" (Gerard Sekoto in a letter to Barbara Lindop, 6 May 1986)BibliographyB. Lindop, Gerard Sekoto, (Randburg, 1988), p.212.