painted steel

Artwork date: 1975-77
Literature: Nel, Karel. (2005). Villa at 90. Johannesburg: Shelf Publishing, illustrated on p.10.

(1)

218 x 47 x 41 cm including base

Provenance:

Private collection, Johannesburg.

Notes:

A central figure of the Amadlozi group, with artists Cecil Skotnes, Sydney Kumalo and Ezrom Legae during the 1960s and 1970s, Edoardo Villa throughout his life and career had a deep emotional commitment to Africa, its people, cultures, artforms and stories. In his work, he was a technical and creative innovator. In his personal and social life, he was politically progressive.

According to artist and historian Karel Nel, Villa’s anti-establishment role is seldom understood. Working from his home studio without institutional support, Villa formulated a practice that synthetized his European heritage with African stylistic influences. Along with his pioneering mentorship activities, he further challenged the narrative of separate development.

The monumental work Confrontation is one of Edoardo Villa’s most ambitious and important works and forms part of the Rand Merchant Bank collection in Johannesburg. Created in 1978, following the youth uprisings that took place in Soweto just two years prior, it is seen as the artist’s personal response to the socio-political turmoil in South Africa at the time. Over 7 metres wide, the raw steel construction consists of two opposing groups of seven vertical figures, each approximately 4 metres in height. The sculpture is remarkable not only for its powerful subject, but it stands as a triumph of sculptural engineering.

The sculpture Study for Confrontation is a precursor to the concept behind Confrontation’s enormous composition of grouped figures. Produced between 1975–77, this singular vertical structure is assembled in the shape of a column to evoke a figure-like form. Just more than 2 metres high, it is a remarkable and visually striking work, stylistically reminiscent of Analytical Cubist sculpture, where the notion of a human figure is abstracted into a tightly assembled cluster of simple geometric planes. Here, Villa explored the formal possibilities inherent in various prefabricated steel components. Like the figures in Confrontation, the precisely cut beams and pipes are assembled to overlap and intersect, balancing upwards – straight line up against straight line, culminating in a powerful sculpture of commanding presence.

Study for Confrontation is historically and conceptually significant and a pivotal work within Edoardo Villa’s oeuvre.

Marelize van Zyl

Collections:

The artist is represented in numerous local and international collections, notably, Norval Foundation, Cape Town.; Iziko South African National Gallery, Cape Town.; The South African Reserve Bank, Johannesburg.; University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg and Zeitz MOCAA, Cape Town.