Notes

Rendered largely in blue with accents in brown and yellow, Dancing Figures in Blue captures three figures mid-movement, wholly absorbed in their joyful dance. The painting emanates a sense of curvature and smooth sensuality, both in the figures’ movement and in the work’s overall composition. Created in 1967, Dancing Figures in Blue reflects a style of working that emerged in Sekoto’s oeuvre following his visit to Senegal in 1966, when he was invited to participate in the First International Festival of Negro Art. At the height of the Negritude Movement and Léopold Sédar Senghor’s championing of Black Arts, the festival was an international cultural festival celebrating artists of African descent held from 1 April to 24 April 1966, in Dakar, Senegal. Sekoto remained in Senegal for an extended period, travelling the country and painting the people and landscape. His journey to Casamance in particular, a southern region in Senegal, influenced him profoundly. There, he witnessed a way of life largely unaffected by colonialism, filled with ceremony and ritual. Dancing Figures in Blue captures the energy of the dancers who mesmerised him during his time in Senegal. In style, it demonstrates a reconfiguration of localised West African painting aesthetics, influenced by rhythm, motion, and dynamism, creating a compelling sense of depth. The use of gouache as a medium lends the work a sense of urgency and opacity that responds directly to the medium’s properties. What emerges is Sekoto’s evolution towards a more fluid, expressive style. While he continued documenting life as he observed it, his painterly approach in Dancing Figures in Blue shifts from realistic documentation towards capturing the spirit and mood of events.