Preparatory drawing for Modern Masters Tapestries: Portrait Head c. 1960s - 1970s

Ernest Trova made this preparatory drawing, ‘Portrait Head’, for a tapestry, using flat blocks of colour. I can imagine Trova carefully layering these shapes, one on top of the other, adjusting the curves and lines. There's this deep purple for the crown, giving way to hot pink and then a band of yellow, like a sunset, before diving into the deep, dark blue of the neck. The clean, crisp edges make the composition graphic, a precursor to the tapestry. I can imagine Trova thinking about scale, about how these colours would translate into woven fibres. Does he want to make a bold statement? He definitely uses colours that pop. The piece reminds me of the colour-field paintings of Helen Frankenthaler, or even the hard-edged abstraction of Ellsworth Kelly. Ultimately, what Trova offers here is not just a study for a tapestry but a meditation on form, colour, and the interplay between art forms. Trova is in dialog with other artists and different media, each one teaching us different ways of seeing.