Ngatane, Ephraim Mojalefe (1938 – 1971)
Ephraim Ngatane was born in Lesotho in 1938. His family came to Johannesburg in 1942 and he
attended Mooki Memorial School and Orlando High, here he was encouraged to take up arts and crafts.
Between 1952 – 1954 he studied under Cecil Skotnes at Polly Street Art Centre in Johannesburg. From
1954 – 1956 he studied under Rev Hall Duncan, an American missionary in Johannesburg. H then later
started teaching at Jubilee Centre Johannesburg.
Ephraim Ngatane’s work was first shown publicly at Artists of Fame and Promise Exhibition, Adler-
Fielding Art Gallery Johannesburg in 1960. His second solo exhibition in 1964 was a complete sell-out.
That year he also started his own art school in Soweto and completed murals for St Mary’s Church and
Mooki Memorial School, Orlando. From 1969 – 1971 Ephraim’s paintings became sought-after by South
African and US art dealers. His health had been precarious for some time but his death in 1971 was
sudden.
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