Notes

The sculpture was created by Villa when he was a prisoner-of-war during WWII in the Zonderwater camp near Pretoria. It was modelled on one of the other prisoners in the camp and later cast as an edition of 6 by the Vignali Artistic Foundry, Pretoria.

Provenance

Strauss & Co, 11 November 2012, lot 212.

Literature

cf. Fritz-Uwe Günther (1998) Edoardo Villa Museum: Catalogue, Pretoria: University of Pretoria, a similar example made from plaster illustrated on page 10, catalogue number 3.

Karel Nel, Elizabeth Burroughs and Amalie von Maltitz (2005) Villa at 90, Johannesburg: Jonathan Ball, another cast from the edition illustrated in colour on pages 30 and 31.

Chris de Klerk and Gerard de Kamper (2012) Villa in Bronze, Pretoria: University of Pretoria Museum, another cast from the edition illustrated in colour on page 9.