Maquette for Confrontation

Titled, Maquette for Confrontation is a painted steel work done in 1978 by the Italian-born, South African artist Edoardo Villa (1915-2011). The work was a pre-study for a larger sculpture at Rand Merchant Bank in Johannesburg titled, Confrontation. The sculpture represents abstract steel figures that suggests pain and anger. Although Villa was not a politically motivated artist, he was not unmoved by the historical circumstances in apartheid South Africa at that time. The work captures the event of the violent emotions of the students during the June 1976 Soweto uprising. This collective anger points towards the unfairness of the education system, yet each figure does not get lost in the emotional crowd. The work was donated by Villa in 1990 to the University of Pretoria. The University of Pretoria has one of the most extensive Villa collections of this notable South African sculptor, born in Italy. Villa worked primarily in steel and bronze and his works is abstract art and cubist. Short Biography: Edoardo Daniele Villa was born in 31 May 1915 in Bergamo, Italy. Here he studied at the Andrea Fortini Art School under Minotti, Barbieri and Lodi, his studies brought home to cities like Milan and Rome. In 1939 Edoardo Villa was conscripted into the Italian Army and wounded in Egypt at the battle of Sidi Barrani during the Second World War in 1940. Villa was taken prisoner and was subsequently brought to South Africa as a prisoner of war and interned at the Zonderwater Prisoner of War (POW) Camp near Pretoria. Villa was released in 1947 and remained in South Africa where he practised his art as a sculptor. Villa adopted his new country and became one of the most noted and accomplished abstract sculptors of his time. In 1965, Villa married Claire Zafeirakou who was his companion until she passed away in November 2010. Edoardo Villa lived in Johannesburg until his death on 1 May 2011.