Background
Trovaioli was born in Rome, Italy on January 8, 1921.
( The extensive paintings of William Aiken Walker illustr...)
The extensive paintings of William Aiken Walker illustrate life in the late 1800s to the early 1900s, when cotton reigned. As a Southerner born to an Irish Protestant father and a South Carolinian mother, Walker grew up with a profound respect for the often-misunderstood cotton field worker. His painterly expressions document cultural and social conditions of the time, offering respect for the people themselves.
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Trovaioli was born in Rome, Italy on January 8, 1921.
In 1938, he graduated from high school in Uniontown, Pennsylvania and enrolled at the University of Pittsburgh where he served as editor of the school yearbook.
They arrived at Ellis Island, New York, aboard the steamship Canada on June 12, 1921, having sailed from Naples. At the time of his arrival, his name was listed as Agostino Filippo Trovaioli. The family subsequently settled in Pennsylvania.
Many of his extended family members, dating back some four generations, worked as artists and ceramicists.
Trovaioli followed in their footsteps, developing a love for art and art history. After graduating in 1942, he enlisted in the United States Army Air Corps and was stationed at Keesler Air Force Base in Biloxi, Mississippi.
After the war, Trovaioli earned a master’s degree in education from the University of Alabama. Trovaioli lived in Grand Bay until his death in 1975.
While developing a lifelong career as an educator, Trovaioli worked in art restoration, restoring pieces for private collectors and public exhibits.
He specialized in early American art, and became an authority on the life and work of Southern painter William Aiken Walker. Trovaioli was instrumental in broadening art education opportunities in both public and private schools across the Gulf Coast.
(The extensive paintings of William Aiken Walker illustrat...)
( The extensive paintings of William Aiken Walker illustr...)
He devoted much of his time and energy to raising public awareness and appreciation of art and was a founding member of the Mobile Art Association, in Mobile, Alabama, the Eastern Shore Art Association in Fairhope, Alabama, and the Singing River Art Association, in Pascagoula, Mississippi.