Saint Louis, MO, March 17, 2009 – St. Louis Magazine staff writer Jeannette Cooperman landed a much coveted interview with artist and sculptor Ernest Trova in early February, when he was home in St. Louis after a hospital stay. He died just a month later on March 8, 2009. The interview will be featured in the April issue of St. Louis Magazine, which hits newsstands March 31.
Trova's “Falling Man” sculptures were among the most iconic images of the 1960s. His work is in the collections of the Saint Louis Art Museum, the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Tate Gallery in London, the Smithsonian Institution in Washington D.C., and several museums in other countries. Trova was never very communicative--he was famous for one-word answers, and at least one reporter left in tears. But at the end of his life, he seemed glad to talk.
Over the course of Cooperman’s four-hour interview, Trova spoke about a career that started as a window-dresser for a department store and ended with work in museums all over the world. The first Trova exhibited in a museum was a self-portrait; he was only 20 and had never studied art formally, and Life Magazine wrote about the storm the selection caused. Trova also talked about his wife's death, their long marriage, his diversions (donuts, badminton, a legendary toy collection), his creation of the “Falling Man”series (and his take on the many interpretations of the icon). He spoke at length about his agents, the politics of the art world, the work he did after the spotlight turned away, and his lifelong search to understand life's meaning.
A few excerpts from the interview transcription:
Cooperman: “I’ve read so many different things about ‘Falling Man,’ that the figure is vulnerable, that the figure is closed, that it’s sexless, religious, irreligious .... What interpretation irritates you the most?”
Trova: “That it’s a pregnant man.”
Cooperman: “What was it about the time in which you did ‘Falling Man’ that really tapped into the collective psyche?”
Trova: “Well, I had a show in town that was sponsored by Morton May. He wanted me to hang 12 paintings for a bicentennial in the auditorium, and I said, ‘Buster—his name was Buster—what I think I ought to do, if you don’t mind, is let me use all the equipment you have in the store and I’ll put something in there.’ I used the painters, the carpenters, the electricians, and whatever I didn’t have in the store, I had cast outside the store. I three-dimensionalized [Falling Man] during that period.”
Cooperman: “I’ve heard you described as apocalyptic expressionist, pop, modernist, surrealist, past classicist, part futurist and postmodernist before the curve. What’s your response to those labels—is it just silliness, is it just a way to carve up art, or are they sets of ideas you’ve moved in and out of?”
Trova: “I don’t mind if anybody has any natural response to what my work does. Even critics. Everybody’s right. The critics, the artists, the variations on the themes. They can all have a whack at it. Fine.”
Cooperman: “So you don’t care—if you had to describe yourself, you wouldn’t say ‘I’ve been a surrealist’ or ‘I’ve been a …’?”
Trova: “No, I’ve been a man of my times, doing what I want to do, come hell or high water.”
St. Louis Magazine is the smart, stylish and sophisticated guide to St. Louis. Each month, our award-winning magazine brings our readers revealing profiles, discerning dining and cultural guides, in depth features, informed commentary and authoritative best-of lists. St. Louis Magazine holds a total of six National City and Regional Magazine Editorial and Design Awards.
For more excerpts from the interview, or to schedule an interview with SLM’S Jeannette Cooperman, please contact Meghan Riley Fritsche at 314.918.3002 or mriley@stlmag.com.
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