Reclining Figure I

The sculpture titled, Reclining Figure is a painted steel work done in 1980 by the Italian-born, South African artist Edoardo Villa (1915-2011). The work is a stylized artillery cannon but also a figure trying to stand upright. Several reclining figures were created by Villa as part of his war series symbolic of a damaged cannon and a wounded soldier. Villa was the captain of an artillery contingent in North Africa during the Second World War. His placement was overrun by the British at 9 December 1941, during a reconnaissance mission by the Allied forces just before the Battle of Sidi Barrani. He was wounded and spent some time in Egypt recuperating from his injuries.Later in that year, Villa was shipped, with thousands of other prisoners of war (POW), to South Africa where he was interned at Zonderwater, a prison camp near Pretoria, just outside the town of Cullinan. 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.