Artists

Winston Churchill Masakeng Saoli was born in the town of Acornhoek, Eastern Transvaal, now known as Mpumalanga Province. The son of a Reverend, he first attended the Arthur seat Lower Primary School, where his father was headmaster. In 1963 the family moved to Soweto and enrolled Saoli at Morris Isaacson School. In the late sixties, Saoli began attending classes at the Jubilee Art Centre, where artists such as Ephraim Ngatane, Ezrom Legae, Cecil Skotnes, and Bill Hart inspired his work. Saoli had his first solo exhibition in 1968 at Johannesburg’s Goodman Gallery, which sold out, and was soon followed by the appearance of Saoli’s work at the Contemporary African Art exhibition at the Camden Arts Centre in London. In 1971 Saoli exhibited with Leonard Matsoso and Cyprian Shilakoe at Preston in the United Kingdom. In 1993 Saoli started a collaboration with Peter Sibeko at the Soweto Art. He worked prolifically in this period. Saoli’s works can be found at the Johannesburg Art Gallery, the William Humphreys Art Gallery, the De Beers Centenary Art Gallery, the UNISA Art Gallery, the University of Fort Hare and the University of the Witwatersrand.¹

¹https://www.sahistory.org.za/people/winston-churchill-masakeng-saoli