“A storyteller with a brush, a custodian of the past” is how illustrator Tom Lovell once described himself. Lovell is regarded as one of the 20th century’s leading Western artists, with his work including figurative paintings of important historical events, portraits of homespun American life and thought-provoking illustrations for publications such as Life, National Geographic and The Saturday Evening Post.
Born in 1909 in New York City, Lovell spent his childhood in Nutley, New Jersey, where he developed a keen interest in art and Native American culture. He often visited New York’s American Museum of Natural History, where he would sketch Native American clothing, weapons and artifacts.
Lovell studied art at Syracuse University, where he roomed with future well-known illustrator Harry Anderson. While there, he began his illustration career by selling his work to pulp magazines. Later, he illustrated for publications such as The American, Cosmopolitan and Women’s Home Companion.
During World War II, Lovell enlisted with the Marine Corps Reserve and created illustrations for the Marine Corps’s Leatherneck magazine and the Marine Corps Gazette. He also completed several large paintings chronicling historical military events; they are now displayed at the Marine Corps headquarters in Washington, DC.
After the war, Lovell continued illustrating for magazines like Collier’s, Redbook, Ladies’ Home Journal and McCall’s, which featured “Day of Yellow Flowers,” one of his better-known illustrations. He contributed a series of historical works, including his famous Civil War painting “Surrender at Appomattox,” to National Geographic.
Throughout the 1960s, he was increasingly fascinated with the American Southwest. In 1975, Lovell and his family moved to Santa Fe, New Mexico, where he found inspiration for his landscapes that depict Native American and Old West culture.
Lovell received numerous accolades throughout his career. In 1974, the Society of Illustrators named him a Hall of Fame Laureate. In 1992, the National Academy of Western Art and National Cowboy Museum honored him with a Lifetime Achievement Award. Lovell is the only artist to have won the National Cowboy Museum’s invitational Prix de West exhibition twice.
Lovell died in 1997. His illustrations and paintings continue to be prized by Western art and Americana collectors.
On 1stDibs, discover a range of Tom Lovell’s paintings.
"Farewell Without Regret"
By Tom Lovell
Located in Fort Washington, PA
Signature: Signed Lower Left Medium: Oil Paint Story illustration for "Farewell Without Regret" by Sarah-Elizabeth Rodger for Good Housekeeping, published September 1940, page 47. ...
Oil
"Every Sunday, Mowbray and the boy had dinner together"
By Tom Lovell
Located in Fort Washington, PA
Approximate Date: 1957 Medium: Oil on Board Signature: Signed Lower Left Size: 18.70" x 27.00" Story illustration for The Master Move by George Loveridge, published in Good Housekeeping, November 1957. An excerpt from the story reads: “In the evening Mowbray dined at a mahogany table designed to seat ten persons. To his left, in an intricate, gilded frame, hung an oil portrait of his father — a man with a majestic, full gray beard and the same beaked nose that his son had, but with milder eyes (p. 237)…Every Sunday, Mowbray and the boy had dinner together, the two of them at the long, broad, polished table under the eyes of Peter Mowbray. Mowbray often had to fly hundreds of miles to be on time for Sunday dinner with his son, but he did not once fail to be there.” (p. 239-240) A Native American finding a Raggedy Ann doll...
Board, Oil
$650
H 18 in W 12 in
Antique American Oil Painting Still Life Flora Rare 19th Century New York Jersey
By Sallie Van Horn
Located in Buffalo, NY
A stunning antique American still life painting from the recently acquired estate of New York/New Jersey artist Sallie Van Horn. Van Horn taught paint...
Oil, Board
$5,300
H 31.89 in W 39.38 in D 0.99 in
Large White Rose Oil Painting, Contemporary Floral Artwork, France, 2010
Located in AIX-EN-PROVENCE, FR
"Blooming Rose” is an oil painting on Linen canvas created in 2010 by the French artist Françoise de Beaucé. From a private collection. This elegant artwork celebrates the timeless b...
Linen, Canvas, Oil
$920
H 8 in W 10 in
"Something in the Way" (2024) By Nadezda, Original Oil Painting on Panel
By Nadezda
Located in Denver, CO
Nadezda's beautiful new oil on panel painting "Something in the Way" (2024) is a surreal portrait of a man stuck in a slouched position with his arms over a bar and his head undernea...
Oil, Panel
$1,095
H 9.85 in W 11.82 in D 0.12 in
Evening Wildflowers - summer sunny landscape, painting
By Nikolay Dmitriev
Located in Zofingen, AG
The impressionist summer painting with the wildflowers and trees is a beautiful wall decor, the painting is full of different warm and cold colours, combinations shades of green are ...
Oil, Board
Homage to Bunny Mellon
By Pierre Bergian
Located in New York, NY
Pierre Bergian (Bruges, Belgium, b. 1965) explores the essence of space, depicting architectural interiors with an expressive line that renders them out of time. Bergian lives and wo...
Wood, Oil, Pencil
$1,706
H 16 in W 16 in D 1.75 in
Still Life Painting of English Bone China Tea Cup & Biscuit by British Artist
By Angela Wakefield
Located in Preston, GB
Still Life Painting of English Bone China Tea Cup, Saucer & Biscuit by Contemporary British Artist Art measures 11 x 11 inches Frame measures 16 x ...
Gesso, Paint, Varnish, Mixed Media, Oil, Acrylic, Board
Bibliothèque of Madeleine Castaing, Lèves, France
By Pierre Bergian
Located in New York, NY
A five-bedroom, pale blue-and-turquoise country house located an hour and a half southwest of Paris, Maison de Lèves served as a lifelong laboratory for France’s maîtresse of interio...
Oil, Wood Panel, Pencil
$4,500
H 21.75 in W 19.75 in D 0.25 in
'Young Girl Sewing' Paris, Universal Exposition, Danish Oil, Pont Aven, Brittany
Located in Santa Cruz, CA
Signed lower right, 'Find' for Ludvig Find (Danish, 1869-1945) and painted circa 1900. Ludvig Find first attended Copenhagen's School of Fine Arts and Kroyer's school (1888) before ...
Oil, Board
$274
H 16.54 in W 23.63 in D 0.04 in
Abstract 2621 - Original Acrylic Abstract Painting - 60x42cm.
By Alex Senchenko
Located in Zofingen, AG
Acrylic painting. Painted on 400gsm Professional Paper. The Painting will need framing. ARTIST : Alex Senchenko Title : '' Abstract 2621 '' . Technique: Acrylic & structure on Pa...
Oil, Acrylic
$7,500
H 24.5 in W 17.5 in D 2 in
Fernando L. Hidalgo (Spanish, 1880 - 1945) Palace in Seville .
Located in New York, NY
An interior depiction of the patio de las Doncellas Reales Alcazares de Sevilla, the oldest royal European palace still in use today in Seville, Spain. A beautiful Orientalist rendition of this grandiose space, the viewer peers through an archway within a scalloped arcade at a covered walkway and into an interior space with a set of red horseshoe arches. Brilliant plaster of Paris decoration is rendered gorgeously in shades of cream paint. A prayer mat and floor pillow are situated in the mid ground with a small fountain footsteps away. Fernando Liger...
Oil, Board
$5,000
H 20 in W 16 in
"Wildflower" contemporary oil painting, still life, springtime branch, interior
By Kelly Carmody
Located in Sag Harbor, NY
An impressionist still life from contemporary American Realist painter Kelly Carmody. A wildflower is placed in a white vase, atop a low coffee-table. Branches reach up and outward, decorated with budding blossoms. Painted in the artist's studio in Waltham, MA. Kelly Carmody has exhibited at venues including the Portrait Society of America and the Art Students League. Most recently, she was selected for the 2015 BP Portrait Award Show at the National Portrait Gallery in London and the 2016 Outwin Boochever Award at the National Portrait Gallery in Washington D.C. In addition, the historic Guild of Boston Artists...
Canvas, Linen, Oil
$15,000
H 30 in W 38 in D 1.5 in
Resting, Expressionist Portrait of Young Man by Philadelphia Artist
By Bernard Harmon
Located in Doylestown, PA
"Resting" is an interior portrait of a young man resting on a sofa. This work was painted by Philadelphia born Expressionist painter Bernard Harmon. The 24" x 32" oil on board painti...
Oil, Board