Gerard Sekoto (9 December 1913 – 20 March 1993), was a South African artist and musician. He is recognised as a pioneer of urban black art and social realism. His work was exhibited in Paris, Stockholm, Venice, Washington, and Senegal, as well as in South Africa. Early life Sekoto was born on 9 December 1913 at the Lutheran Mission Station in Botshabelo, near Middelburg, Eastern Transvaal (now known as Mpumalanga). He was the son of Andreas Sekoto, a leading member of the new Christian converts. Sekoto was schooled at Wonderhoek, which was established by his father, a priest and teacher. As the son of a missionary, he experienced music as a part of his life and was introduced to the family harmonium at an early age. As a child, Sekoto would draw with chalk, paper, and colored pencils. His art skills emerged in his teenage years, when he attended the Diocesan Teachers Training College in Pietersburg. This school, unlike most, featured drawing classes and other craftwork. Grace Dieu had a number of skilled woodcarvers producing sculptures on commission as well as for competitions such as the annual South African Academy exhibition. The sculptor Ernest Mancoba was a close friend of Sekoto's at Grace Dieu, and the two dreamed of going to Europe to attend art school. Ernest Mancoba was also his mentor who encouraged Sekoto to pursue a career in art. Sekoto, though, never fit within the paternalistic, prescribed sculpting style at Grace Dieu, preferring to paint and draw on his own. Graduating as a teacher from the Diocesan Teachers Training College in Pietersburg he taught at a local school, Khaiso Secondary, for four years. During this time he entered an art competition (the May Esther Bedford) organised by the Fort Hare University, for which he was awarded second prize. George Pemba was awarded the first prize. Sekoto had a secret passion for doing art, but was divided between his love for teaching and art. He would hide his work whenever anyone came near it, and would only show his work to his closest friends. He only let Louis Makenna, Nimrod Ndebele, and Ernest Mancoba look at his paintings. In 1938 at the age of 25 he left for Johannesburg to pursue a career as an artist. He lived with relatives in Gerty Street, Sophiatown. He held his first solo exhibition in 1939. In 1940 the Johannesburg Art Gallery purchased