“Discipline of Sculpture” explores Edoardo Villa’s enduring influence. It includes thirty-five works, both indoors and outdoors. Villa was an Italian- born artist who settled in Johannesburg after his release from Zonderwater prison post-World War II. Supported by his long-term friend and assistant, Lucas Legodi, he produced nearly 1000 works over seven decades.

Villa’s work was shaped by his immersion in Johannesburg’s Italian community and his engagement with African art through the Amadlozi group. He bridged European and African artistic traditions, with the human figure as his central muse, abstracted and reimagined — a testament to his outsider perspective and lifelong fascination with the human condition.

Significant works from the early-1950s echo Brancusi’s sensual, solid forms. Later works, where he deconstructs the figure into delicate, skeletal steel rods, evoke motion and an African milieu, with titles that anchor the works in cultural and temporal contexts.

Photographs are included of three of Villa’s largest works: Africa (1959), African Sentinel (1963), and Confrontation (1978). The former represents a pinnacle of Villa’s exploration of solid steel forms. It was developed through maquettes like Africa II Maquette (1958) and Africa Maquette (1959). Tragically, African Sentinel was bulldozed and sold for scrap, leaving only its maquette as a testament to its existence. This exhibition celebrates Villa’s important contribution to the discipline of sculpture while urging a renewed commitment to the preservation of his legacy.