Ernest Tino Trova (February 19, 1927 – March 8, 2009) was a self-trained
American surrealist
Surrealism is a cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists depicted unnerving, illogical scenes and developed techniques to allow the unconscious mind to express itself. Its aim was, according to ...
and
pop art painter and
sculptor
Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...
. Best known for his signature image and figure series, ''The Falling Man'', Trova considered his entire output a single "work in progress." Trova used classic American comic character toys in some of his pieces because he admired their surrealism. Many of Trova's sculptures are cast in unusual
white bronze
White bronze is a white-coloured alloy. Examples of various alloys composed of copper, tin and zinc or composed of zinc, copper, aluminum and magnesium.Christopher H. Bierbaum''Alloy.''US-Patent NoUS778398./ref> A modern composition contains 55% ...
. He began as a painter, progressing through three-dimensional constructions to his mature medium, sculpture. Trova's gift of forty of his works led to the opening of
St. Louis County, Missouri's
Laumeier Sculpture Park.
[
]
Biography
Trova was born on February 19, 1927 in Clayton, Missouri, where he attended Clayton High School and St. Louis University High School. His father, an industrial tool designer and inventor, died shortly after Trova graduated from high school.[Duffy, Robert]
"Sculptor Ernest Trova created 'Falling Man'"
, '' St. Louis Beacon'', March 9, 2009. Accessed March 12, 2009.[Weber, Bruce]
"Ernest Trova, ‘Falling Man’ Artist, Is Dead at 82"
''The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
'', March 13, 2009. Accessed March 14, 2009.
His interest in poetry led him to begin a correspondence with Ezra Pound, who had been confined to St. Elizabeths Hospital in Washington, D.C.
)
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
after World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
.[
Trova lived in the ]St. Louis
St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...
area his entire life[ and has a star on the ]St. Louis Walk of Fame
The St. Louis Walk of Fame honors notable people from St. Louis, Missouri, who made contributions to the culture of the United States. All inductees were either born in the Greater St. Louis area or spent their formative or creative years ther ...
.
Artist
He worked at the Famous-Barr
The Famous-Barr Co. (originally Famous and Barr Co.) was a division of Macy's, Inc. (formerly Federated Department Stores). Headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri, in the Railway Exchange Building, it was the flagship store of The May Department S ...
department store as a decorator and window dresser
Window dressers are retail workers who arrange displays of goods in shop windows or within a shop itself. Such displays are themselves known as " window dressing". They may work for design companies contracted to work for clients or for department ...
. A self-taught artist, Morton D. May, an art collector who later served as chairman of The May Department Stores Company
The May Department Stores Company was an American department store holding company, formerly headquartered in downtown St. Louis, Missouri. It was founded in Leadville, Colorado, by David May in 1877, moving to St. Louis in 1905. After many ...
(which owned the store he worked at), bought one of his paintings and contributed it to the Museum of Modern Art
The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues.
It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, and is often identified as one of ...
.[
As a 20-year-old, his painting ''Roman Boy'', the first work he exhibited in his career, was awarded first prize in the Missouri Exhibition conducted at what was then known as the City Art Museum (now the ]St. Louis Art Museum
The Saint Louis Art Museum (SLAM) is one of the principal U.S. art museums, with paintings, sculptures, cultural objects, and ancient masterpieces from all corners of the world. Its three-story building stands in Forest Park in St. Louis, M ...
).[ ''Roman Boy'' described as a provocative "sexually graphic work", alternatively "scandalized or energized" critics and the public, and earned the work a picture in '']Life
Life is a quality that distinguishes matter that has biological processes, such as Cell signaling, signaling and self-sustaining processes, from that which does not, and is defined by the capacity for Cell growth, growth, reaction to Stimu ...
'' magazine, earning him a degree of recognition that was unusual for an artist from St. Louis.[
He started showing his art during the early years of the ]Pace Gallery
The Pace Gallery is an American contemporary and modern art gallery with 9 locations worldwide. It was founded in Boston by Arne Glimcher in 1960. His son, Marc Glimcher, is now president and CEO. Pace Gallery operates in New York, London, Hong ...
, which later became "one of the most powerful art galleries in the world". Some of his first art was acquired by the collections of the Guggenheim Museum
The Guggenheim Museums are a group of museums in different parts of the world established (or proposed to be established) by the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation.
Museums in this group include:
Locations
Americas
* The Solomon R. Guggenhei ...
and the Museum of Modern Art
The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues.
It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, and is often identified as one of ...
in New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
, as well as by the St. Louis Art Museum in his hometown and by Tate
Tate is an institution that houses, in a network of four art galleries, the United Kingdom's national collection of British art, and international modern and contemporary art. It is not a government institution, but its main sponsor is the U ...
in London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
.[
]
''The Falling Man''
Created in 1964, ''The Falling Man'', is Trova's best known work.[ His "Falling Man" series of works, "about man at his most imperfect", featured an armless human figure, that appeared in sculptures, paintings and prints. In an interview that year with the '']St. Louis Post-Dispatch
The ''St. Louis Post-Dispatch'' is a major regional newspaper based in St. Louis, Missouri, serving the St. Louis metropolitan area. It is the largest daily newspaper in the metropolitan area by circulation, surpassing the ''Belleville News-De ...
'', he described the piece as "a personal hypothetical theory on the nature of man". Trova further stated that "I believe that man is first of all an imperfect creature. The first reaction I usually get to this is that I'm pessimistic. I don't think I am.... It's very close to many theories of man — the Catholic view that man is a fallen creature, for example."
Trova created multiple versions of ''The Falling Man'', including variant sculptures and wristwatches with images of the piece. This led to charges of commercialism and critiques that the piece was period kitsch. An associate of Trova's rejected the criticism, noting that the duplicate works was an example of seriality, in which "Trova invented this great symbol of human fallibility through processing and reprocessing the image. Trova's work is misunderstood. Seriality is as essential to his work as it was to Warhol
Andy Warhol (; born Andrew Warhola Jr.; August 6, 1928 – February 22, 1987) was an American visual artist, film director, and producer who was a leading figure in the Art movement, visual art movement known as pop art. His works explore th ...
's. One of his earliest statements about 'Falling Man' was that all of it — all the sculptures, all the paintings, all the prints — were one work in his own mind."[
]
Later work
A major exhibit of Trova's works was presented in 1969 at the Pace Gallery, with reviewer Hilton Kramer
Hilton Kramer (March 25, 1928 – March 27, 2012) was an American art critic and essayist.
Biography
Early life
Kramer was born in Gloucester, Massachusetts, and was educated at Syracuse University, receiving a bachelor's degree in English; ...
of ''The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
'' calling it one whose size and scope "befits an artist currently enjoying a huge success". Kramer noted the recurrence of a theme in Trova's work, as exemplified by his ''Falling Man'' variations, stating that "All artists have a tendency to fall in love with their own symbols, and this is certainly the case with Mr. Trova". The exhibit included a "faceless, armless, polished, unsexed" symbolic figure that was presented in varying poses, and in a range of materials including chrome-plated bronze, enameled aluminum, marble and nickel.
Now covering , what is now known as Laumeier Sculpture Park opened to the public in 1975. Trova agreed to donate 40 of his large sculptures to help establish the park's collection of outdoor sculptures. Trova's dealer at the Pace Gallery approved of the arrangement, which were contributed upon a formal agreement signed on December 11, 1975.A Brief History of Laumeier Sculpture Park
, Laumeier Sculpture Park. Accessed March 12, 2009.
Despite his early successes, Trova's later constructivist abstract sculptures attracted little critical attention outside of St. Louis.[
]
Family and death
A resident of Richmond Heights, Missouri
Richmond Heights is a city in St. Louis County, Missouri. It is an inner-ring suburb of St. Louis, Missouri, United States. The population was 8,603 at the 2010 census. According to Robert L. Ramsay, the name was suggested by Robert E. Lee, who ...
, Trova died at age 82 on March 8, 2009 due to congestive heart failure
Heart failure (HF), also known as congestive heart failure (CHF), is a syndrome, a group of signs and symptoms caused by an impairment of the heart's blood pumping function. Symptoms typically include shortness of breath, excessive fatigue, ...
. He had been married to Carla C. "Teddy" Rand, who came from the family that owned the International Shoe Company
Furniture Brands International, Inc., was a Clayton, Missouri-based home furnishings company. Some of the brands it owned in the furniture industry included Broyhill, Lane, Thomasville, Drexel Heritage, Henredon, Hickory Chair, Pearson, Lanevent ...
. As described by an art dealer who sold his works, Trova "never recovered from her death" in June 2008, "After she died, he just didn't last". He was survived by their three children.[Bonetti, David]
"Famed Ernest Trova sculptor dies"
, ''St. Louis Post-Dispatch
The ''St. Louis Post-Dispatch'' is a major regional newspaper based in St. Louis, Missouri, serving the St. Louis metropolitan area. It is the largest daily newspaper in the metropolitan area by circulation, surpassing the ''Belleville News-De ...
'', March 10, 2009. Accessed March 12, 2009.
References
External links
www.etrova.org
www.whiteflagprojects.org
Laumeier Sculpture Park
{{DEFAULTSORT:Trova, Ernest
1927 births
2009 deaths
People from St. Louis County, Missouri
20th-century American painters
American male painters
21st-century American painters
21st-century American male artists
Modern sculptors
20th-century American sculptors
20th-century American male artists
American male sculptors
Window dressers