3rd Sep, 2020 20:00
Modern & Contemporary Art
149
Edoardo Villa (South Africa 1915–2011)
Standing Form
painted steel
Signature details: signed on the base
Sold for R796,600
Estimated at R700,000 - R900,000
painted steel
Signature details: signed on the base
(1)
281 x 106.5 x 72 cm, including base
Notes:
This impressive painted steel sculpture – one of his largest single figures – is a testament to Edoardo Villa’s vision, ingenuity and skill. He saw in the tubular forms of engineering the potential to create a contemporary language, epitomising South Africa’s rapidly growing industrialisation in the 1960s and 70s. For Villa, steel was a liberating medium enabling him to break away from the traditional labour-intensive and time-consuming methods of carving or modelling and casting that was still favoured by many local sculptors. In contrast, steel allowed him to work directly by employing a constructive method to create large scale sculptures that complemented the increasingly sophisticated urban environment of cities like Johannesburg. Steel also facilitated his break with earlier mimetic imagery in favour of developing a bold, formal language that, while non-representational, hinted at abstracted figures and varied relationships. High levels of innovation coupled with Villa’s impish sense of humour allowed him to create strong statements that are nevertheless playful and even witty. Colour is often brilliant. Here the rich, dark chocolatey brown surface is offset by shards of dazzling blue tinged with red. With works like Standing Form, Villa developed a unique vision that could converse with his contemporaries from the cutting-edge sculptures of Alexander Calder and David Smith to the groovy style of Mary Quant.,
Emma Bedford
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Auction: Modern & Contemporary Art, 3rd Sep, 2020
This Spring, Aspire Art Auctions broke new ground with a fresh, yet considered selection of artworks that is demographically more representative and reflects the spirit of current times. With a strong focus on South Africa, the sale also proudly represented artists from 10 African countries (Benin, DRC, Ghana, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Sudan, Togo, Uganda and Zimbabwe) and international artists from Europe, the UK and USA.
A great highlight was Edoardo Villa’s monumental steel sculpture titled Traverse from 1957 which achieved R4,893,400 – an auction record for the artist. Other exceptional offerings included works by Gerard Sekoto, George Pemba, Peter Clarke and Nicholas Hlobo.
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