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Ernest Tino Trova
Falling Man

1967

About the Item

Ernest Tino Trova (February 19, 1927 – March 8, 2009) was a self-trained American surrealist and pop art painter and sculptor. 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. 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. Created in 1964, The Falling Man, is Trova's best known work.[1] His "Falling Man" series of works, "about man at his most imperfect", featured an armless human figure, that appeared in sculptures, paintings and prints.[5] In an interview that year with the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 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'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." A major exhibit of Trova's works was presented in 1969 at the Pace Gallery, with reviewer Hilton Kramer of The New York Times 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 105 acres (42 ha), 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 Galley approved of the arrangement, which were contributed upon a formal agreement signed on December 11, 1975.
  • Creator:
    Ernest Tino Trova (1927 - 2009, American)
  • Creation Year:
    1967
  • Dimensions:
    Height: 28.5 in (72.39 cm)Width: 29 in (73.66 cm)
  • Medium:
  • Period:
  • Condition:
    1967 poster from MIT, mounted to board. Cannot be rolled.
  • Gallery Location:
    Surfside, FL
  • Reference Number:
    1stDibs: LU38210886292
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