Notes

Johannes Segogela was born in Sekhukhune, now Limpopo Province. He initially trained as a boilermaker before becoming a full-time artist. Segogela first attracted mainstream attention in the mid-1980s through Linda Givon, former owner of Goodman Gallery, who noticed Segogela selling his work on the side of the road in Rosebank and later exhibited his work in her gallery to great acclaim. He was included in important exhibitions such as Tributaries (1985), The Neglected Tradition (1988) and Images of Wood (1989). Segogela’s works are in museum collections across South Africa and internationally in collections such as the Brooklyn Museum, New York; Fowler Museum, UCLA and the Pigozzi Collection, Geneva.

Segogela’s works are intimate in scale and delicately carved. His naturalistic, often ­multi-figured tableaux, center on biblical themes that impart Christian moral values or commentary on current affairs. In Couple, a woman in a green suit, holding a red handbag, is paired with a seated preacher reading a bible. The work may represent a couple at church or that of a preacher and a member of his congregation and perhaps suggests the artist’s views about the importance of religion in everyday life.

Provenance

Donated by Lynne Cooney