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Association of Arts. As he dryly put it, when answering a phone enquiry from a reporter,
paraphrasing Mark Twain – “news of my death has been greatly exaggerated.”

Eddie’s last solo exhibition was at the Chelsea Gallery in 1989. Its theme was ‘Mankind

from the Beginning’ and it consisted of 21 small bronzes, in a progression, that evoked the

complexities of human nature: caring and nurturing, and cruelty and destructiveness. The
first work was titled “African Genesis”. Others, following, such as “Eva”, and “Primate”

picked up the evolutionary theme; “Nuclear Man”, “Chernobyl Child”, “Terrorist”,
“Hostage”, and “Bomb Victim” depicted the perpetrator/victim of cruelty theme. The last

work in the sequence was “What Next?” The exhibition received good reviews but nothing
sold and it was a disappointment for him. He claimed, however, that he was doing “art for

art’s sake.” He had little technical ability in sculpture - he had ideas but was unable to

execute them – so the actual work was in fact done by other people.

“African Genesis” was, however, all his own work and it honoured his late friend and Kalk

Bay resident, the author Robert Ardrey, who died here in 1980. (Fig. 3.48). It has surprised
people familiar with his work that he had originally sculpted African Genesis in stone in

1982. No other examples of his work in this medium are known of. “Dolphin” offered high
praise in the Fish Hoek Echo:

To my mind Eduard has achieved one of his most impressive and symbolic pieces
of sculpture, with the completion of this “brainchild” which has taken three years to evolve
in his mind and to come alive in his hands.
As you look at this strangely stirring piece of stone, it becomes the very essence of
Man (through a woman of course – half human, half animal). It holds tremendous power
and potential. It is the Spirit of Africa in a deeply brooding, protective and primitive form
that grips the imagination.
I should like to congratulate Eduard on creating one of his most thought-provoking
pieces of work and I sincerely hope that it will gain the recognition it deserves – both for
his own sake and that of a man who has left behind a treasure trove of fascinating
philosophy ……….. Robert Ardrey.