African Mask I

Notes

'Throughout his career, (Villa) looked to the innovative stylisation of faces in African masks for inspiration for the coded rearrangement of features in his own work. His heads sometimes have two faces, reminiscent of the Luba 'Janus' heads. Others rely on dramatically simplified features and faceted surfaces that intersect at oblique angles and ricochet through the piece …'

Karel Nel

Literature

Chris de Klerk and Gerhard de Kamper (2012) Villa in Bronze, Pretoria: University of Pretoria Museum, another case from the edition illustrated in colour on page 50.