Ernest Trova dies at age 82
Ernest Trova, the most famous St. Louis visual artist of the post-war era, has died. Mr. Trova, 82, was born in Clayton in 1927, and he always lived in the St. Louis area. At the time of his death, of congestive heart failure, he lived in Richmond Heights. Known primarily as a sculptor, Mr. Trova also made paintings and works on paper. He was not above producing wristwatches for his fans. The Bruno David Gallery here had a lively show of his collages a couple of years ago.
Mr. Trova was also a world-renowned collector of vintage toys, specifically those Walt Disney related.
Mr. Trova’s sculptures are installed in public places throughout the St. Louis region. He was one of the founders of Laumeier Sculpture Park in Sunset Hills and he donated some 40 works to get the park going. Many of them are still on view.
Mr. Trova’s signature image was called “Falling Man,” and in the 1960s, it brought him international fame. An image of a futuristic figure devoid of arms and other human detailing, realized in chrome-covered bronze and later stainless steel, it was shown in galleries in New York City, Boston and London. In those years, Mr. Trova was closely associated with the Pace Gallery, now one of the most powerful art galleries in the world, but at that time just starting out as he was. At the time, his work was acquired by the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, the Guggenheim Museum and the Tate Gallery in London as well as the St. Louis Art Museum.
“The Falling Man’ is a personal hypothetical theory on the nature of man,” Mr. Trova told William Woo of the Post-Dispatch in 1964. “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.”
But as Mr. Trova continued to produce the “Falling Man” icon, it also brought him criticism. He was charged with commercialism, and his iconic image was dismissed as period kitsch. Matt Strauss, director here of White Flag Projects, and a close professional associate, said that he prefers to see the apparently endless “Falling Man” repetitions as an exercise in seriality. “Trova invented this great symbol of human fallibility through processing and reprocessing the image,” Strauss said. “Trova’s work is misunderstood,” Strauss said. “Seriality is as essential to his work as it was to Warhol’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.”
In later years, Mr. Trova created abstract sculptures in the constructivist tradition that failed to get much attention outside the St. Louis area.
As an artist Mr. Trova was self-taught. After graduating from Clayton High School, he worked as a decorator and a window dresser for Famous-Barr, the local department store. Art collector Morton D. May, whose family owned the store, purchased Mr. Trova’s work at the time and gave a painting to the Museum of Modern Art in New York City.
Mr. Trova’s first exhibited work caused a sensation. A painting titled “Roman Boy,” it won first prize in the Missouri Exhibition at the City Art Museum (now the St. Louis Art Museum). That a 20-year old working in a modern idiom won over members of the local art establishment did not go down well.
Mr. Trova married Carla C. Rand, known as Teddy. A member of the family that owned International Shoe, she was a great jazz lover. They had three children, Tino, Tristan and Carla. She died in 2008. “He (Mr. Trova) was a lucky guy. He was married to that great lady,” art dealer Robert Lococo, who showed and sold Mr. Trova’s work for many years, said. “He never recovered from her death. After she died, he just didn’t last.”
So this guy was accused of “commercialism” for producing multiple copies of his most famous work? Oh my gosh, what a horrible crime against humanity. Is there something wrong with using your skill to put food on the table? I don’t get it. I hang out at Cardwell’s in Clayton quite a bit, and I think that Falling Man sculpture looks pretty cool.