Ernest Mancoba
| Ernest (Methuen) Mancoba | |
|---|---|
| Born |
29 August 1904 Turffontein, Johannesburg, South Africa |
| Died | 25 October 2002 (aged 98) Clamart, France |
| Nationality | South African, French |
| Known for | sculpture, painting, drawing |
| Movement | CoBrA, Tachisme |
| Awards | Egill Jacobsen Award (1989), Lee Krasner Award (1995–97), |
Ernest (Methuen) Mancoba (29 August 1904 – 25 October 2002) was an avant-garde artist, born in South Africa, who spent the majority of his life in Europe. He was probably South Africa's first professional Black modern artist, and exhibited from the late 1920s onward.
Born in Johannesburg, the son of a miner, Mancoba grew up on the Rand and was eventually sent to Grace Dieu near Pietersburg for his secondary schooling by his uncle, an Anglican minister. After graduating, he was hired at Grace Dieu as a language teacher in 1924.
Mancoba's interest in art began in 1925 with the arrival of an adjunct teacher named Ned Paterson at Grace Dieu. Paterson, a recent art school graduate preparing for the ministry, introduced wood carving and gained a following among those at Grace Dieu who were artistically inclined. Mancoba took up woodcarving, which he would specialize in until moving to France in 1938. Initially Mancoba produced decorated pieces of furniture in the school carpentry shop, using the school's bas relief style. In 1929 he decided to move to try freestanding sculpture, and produced a commissioned work called African Madonna using a model in a contrapposto stance. African Madonna is probably the first modern sculpture produced by a Black South African, and is now on permanent display at the Johannesburg Art Gallery.
Along with other Grace Dieu carvers, Mancoba began exhibiting at the South African Academy annual competitions. By this point he and his friend Gerard Sekoto began to dream of attending art school in Europe, for which they needed a B.A. After leaving Grace Dieu to attend the South African Native College at Fort Hare on scholarship, he quit carving for several years. When his funds ran out, he dropped out of Fort Hare and survived by producing religious sculptures on commission, operating out of the Rhodes University Art Department. In 1935 he decided to pursue art full-time and moved to Cape Town, where he associated with a group of Trotskyite artists, including Lippy Lipshitz, who had a strong impact on his emerging sculpture style. In 1937, Grace Dieu rehired Mancoba to teach English at an affiliate, Khaiso Secondary School in Pietersburg. The goal was for Mancoba to earn a living while completing received his undergraduate degree from the University of South Africa by correspondence. With encouragement from Gerard Sekoto, Mancoba succeeded.
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