EDOARDO VILLA. RECLINING FIGURE II.
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Edoardo Villa
(South African, born in Italy, b. 1915–d. 2011) -
Reclining Figure II
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1967/2016
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Bronze
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48 x 60 x 13 in.
(121.92 x 152.40 x 33.02 cm)
[sculpture]24 x 72 x 48 in.
(60.96 x 182.88 x 121.92 cm)
[base] -
Next to the SunAmerica Center at 1999 Avenue of the Stars, Los Angeles, CA 90067
Truly an abstraction of the human form.
Just before the entrance to the looming skyscraper of SunAmerica Center at 1999 Avenue of the Stars, you will find Edoardo Villa’s Reclining Figure II, originally made in 1967 and installed on the Avenue in 2016. Villa’s work is abstract in its form and sits atop a granite base at the back end of a small garden that serves as a colorful and playful frame for the bronze sculpture. Without the work’s title, one might initially wonder what the sculpture depicts, yet upon closer inspection, the bronze begins to take on an anthropomorphic shape.
To the left, you may see a head, while an arm and even a hand emerge to the front. On the right are legs and feet with–perhaps—some sort of structure behind them. When abstracted, a human form can be a puzzle left to the viewer to figure out. The body appears generally chunky and angular, with some curved forms throughout.
At about 3 feet long, Villa’s work is neither very small nor overly large, but the bronze nevertheless exudes both mass and volume, giving a sensation of grandeur far beyond its physical size.
Reclining Figure II can be hard to spot. Look out for it at 1999 Avenue of the Stars.
SPARK A CONVERSATION.
Villa’s abstraction seeks to break down different perspectives and represent multiple planes. The figure takes shape when viewed from all angles.
Be sure to walk around the work as you try to make out different human forms.
Additionally, while he was born in Italy, Villa worked in his adopted home of South Africa and is known to pull inspiration from landscapes just as much as human forms. With this in mind, you can see how the curves and lines might reflect South Africa’s diverse landscape of mountains and plains just as much as it reflects the human body.
As you stand on the Avenue of the Stars, look around you—down the Avenue, toward the hills, at the skyscrapers.
Can you sense this physical diversity in your own surroundings in Los Angeles too?
Does Villa’s figure echo any of Century City’s natural or humanmade environment?