SOUTH AFRICAN NATIONAL GALLERY
SUID-AFRIKAANSE NASIONALE KUNSMUSEUM
IGALARI YOBUZWE YOMZANTSI AFRIKA
An Exhibition of Works from the Permanent Collection
Leopard Man, Doctor Phutuma Seoka, 1986
(Painted wood, Height: 136 cm)
Phutuma Seoka
"I must make what I see in my dreams" - Phutuma Seoka, c1985.
Born: 1922, Modjadji, near Duiwelskloof, Northern Province.
Began making sculpture in wood after a sangoma (African traditional healer) suggested it as a cure for a recurring dream about a large mountain snake. Since then, has drawn inspiration from dreams and spirits that visit him. It's said that the orders of his ancestors would lead him to stumble on roots or branches, whose shapes resembled those of objects he was "destined to make". Sculpts animal and human forms, often in combination, as well as township figures and portraits of politicians and other personalities from the apartheid era. Work is brightly painted, often symbolic and sometimes with a satirical twist.
- Training:
- Self-taught.
- Profile:
- After leaving school in Standard 6, Seoka worked for 16 years at various jobs in Johannesburg (1950-1966). Known as "Dr. Seoka" because of his herbalist practise which he started in 1953. Returned to his place of birth in the Duiwelskloof in 1966, where he opened a barber's shop. Began sculpting in soapstone and indigenous woods a year later. Because of a great demand for his work, he developed a thriving cottage industry involving his family in c1985. Not always possible to tell whether his works are originals, as his sons undertake much of the work according to a prototype carved into a tree by Seoka.
Solo exhibitions:
1987: Goodman Gallery, Johannesburg.
Group exhibitions:
1983: Milner Park, Johannesburg (South African Contemporary Art).
1985: Africana Museum in Progress, Johannesburg and the former
West Germany (Tributaries).
Market Gallery, Johannesburg (Out of Africa).
1986: Market Gallery, Johannesburg and Natal Society of Arts,
Durban (Bozz Art Foundation touring exhibition with Hendrick
Nekhofhe, Nelson Mukhuba and Jackson Hlungwani).
University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg (with Norman
Catherine).
University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg (Standard
Bank Foundation Collection of African Art).
1987: Basel, Switzerland (Art Fair, with Norman Catherine).
National Festival of the Arts, Grahamstown and South African
Association of Arts, Pretoria (Vha Venda).
Passe Par Tout Gallery, Johannesburg.
1988: South African Association of Arts, Pretoria (Vha
Venda/Shangaan Wood sculpture).
Johannesburg Art Gallery (Vita Art Now).
Johannesburg Art Gallery (The Neglected Tradition).
1989: Johannesburg Art Gallery (Images in Wood).
University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg (Ten Years of
Collecting).
1990-1992: Museum of Modern Art, Oxford and other venues in
England; South African National Gallery, Cape Town (Art
from South Africa).
Collections:
South African National Gallery, Cape Town; Durban Art Gallery;
Tatham Art Gallery, Pietermaritzburg; Johannesburg Art Gallery;
Pretoria Art Museum; University of Fort Hare, Alice, Eastern Cape;
University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg.
