Untitled, #10

Trova, Ernest

1969

Artwork Information

  • Title:

    Untitled, #10

  • Artist:

    Trova, Ernest

  • Artist Bio:

    American, 1927–2009

  • Date:

    1969

  • Medium:

    Serigraph

  • Dimensions:

  • Credit Line:

    Wichita Art Museum, Museum purchase, Wichita Art Museum Members Foundation

  • Object Number:

    1972.12

  • Display:

    Not Currently on Display

About the Artwork

Ernest Trova worked in sculpture, painting and printmaking. His “Falling Man” theme (began in the 1960s) was a lifelong exploration of a simplified man: faceless, armless, rounded belly and of indeterminate sex. In Trova’s art the figure strikes a variety of poses and in the Wichita Art Museum print is placed in a repeated pattern that forms a half circle. The image has a black background, white with black outlined “Falling Man” and gray ground. The overall composition suggests a nautilus especially at the center where the heads overlap and form a decorative curved ‘skeleton.’

Trova was born in St. Louis in 1927. A self-taught artist, his early paintings were in the Abstract Expressionist mode. With his “Falling Man” theme he became a standard of Pop Art. In later years he began making collages using magazine photographs of meat. He was also known for collecting toys, especially Walt Disney characters. He died in Missouri at the age of 82.