Sentinel

A sculpture titled, Sentinel by South African artist Edoardo Villa. In Tukkie lane there are six sculptures by Edoardo Villa done in the mid 80s. The one at the junction is titled “The escape”, the next two is forms of broken canons titled “Thrust” and “Figure” and the other three are sentinels. These works were all done as part of Villa’s reminiscence of his time during the Second World War where he fought in North Africa and was held captive in the Zonderwater prisoner camp just outside Cullinan. 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 are abstract and cubistic. Short biography: Edoardo Daniele Villa was born on 31 May 1915 in Bergamo, Italy. Here he studied at the Andrea Fortini Art School under Minotti, Barbieri and Lodi, his studies brought him to cities like Milan and Rome. In 1939 Edoardo Villa was conscripted into the Italian Army and became 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 finally 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.