Edoardo Villa, Reclining Figure ,1990
Provenance : Private collection, Vaal Estate.
Exhibited :
Literature : Nel, K., Burroughs, E. and Von Maltitz, A. (eds). (2005). Villa at 90. Johannesburg and Cape Town: Jonathan Ball Publishers, illustrated on pp.98 & 99.
Notes : Reclining Figure is an exuberant assemblage of intertwined tubular and disclike shapes in steel. Produced in 1990, this impressive sculpture shows Edoardo Villa’s return (at the age of 75) to creating larger volumetric works and affirms the artist’s ability to innovatively construct complex formal structures, as well as his incredible mastery of working with steel, on an amplified scale. At almost 2 metres in length, Reclining Figure presents a symphony of geometric and organic forms where “Villa appears to revel in an almost Baroque feast of varied, bold, twisting, stretching, expanding, massive, open shapes”. A touch of lush green inside the “loose-limbed” tubes indicates the dialogue between the interior and exterior parts of the composition. Although an abstracted construction, Villa’s sculptures are generally derived from a figurative source, and this sculpture, according to Karel Nel and Amalie von Maltitz, is reminiscent of Henry Moore’s Falling Warrior (1956) at Tate Gallery in London. But unlike the earlier work, Reclining Form, rather than being heroic, suggests vulnerability. Villa was awarded the Chancellor’s Medal at the University of Pretoria in 1990 and in 1995 the Villa Museum opened on the main campus. To celebrate the inauguration, a long-term exhibition of Villa’s large steel sculptures was on public display at the university. Reclining Figure was included in the exhibition and installed on the campus at the time. MVZ
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