Tom Lovell

Artist Biography

Known as a traditional painter of art, prints and posters depicting Western history, Tom Lovell was born in New York City. "I enjoy recreating the past,' he once said. "As a boy, books of adventure in far off times and places were real. At seventeen, I shipped as a deckhand on the Leviathan and various other jobs followed. Enrollment in the College of Fine Arts at Syracuse University was the next step. At this time the newsstands were filled with 'pulp' magazines and I produced a cover in oils and eight or ten dry brush illustrations a month during my senior year. The message on the covers had to out scream a hundred others. After graduation I continued to free lance for the pulps for six years before tackling the 'slicks.' In 1944, I enlisted in the Marine Corps and was assigned to an easel. Illustration continued to flourish after the war.'

His art, prints and posters focused on the history of the West, particularly early expeditions and the relations between Native Americans and early settlers. Although drawn from history, Lovell's paintings are fresh and vital, never tired or hackneyed. He paid great attention to detail and because of this, seldom completed more than a dozen major oil paintings a year.

The quality of his contribution to contemporary western art, prints and posters is remarkable. In 1974, he won the National Academy of Western Art's Prix de West, was elected to the Society of Illustrators Hall of Fame, and won the Franklin Mint gold medal for prints. Lovell has also been featured in Artists of the Rockies and Persimmon Hill.

Tom Lovell Art, Prints and Posters Collection