"Balloonists Struggle to Escape a Doomed Gondola" Lot no. 2046
By Tom Lovell (1909-1997)
1963
23.00" x 24.50"
Oil on Board
Signed Lower Left
SOLD
Click the image above for an additional view.
Provenance:
Commissioned by the National Geographic Society.
Exhibitions:
Stockbridge, Massachusetts, The Norman Rockwell Museum, National Geographic: The Art of Exploration, 2006.
Literature:
Commissioned by the National Geographic Society.
Notes:
On July 28, 1934, the Explorer I manned by Major William E. Kepner, Captain Albert W. Stevens, and Captain Orvil A. Anderson, attempted to set the new highest-altitude record, but came short of this goal when the gas bag exploded, forcing the three adventurers to "leap for their lives by parachute." The present lot illustrates this harrowing feat and was both the cover of the 75th anniversary issue of National Geographic magazine as well as a feature in the same issue. Lot 48 illustrates the balloon after its crash landing of the first attempt, surrounded by the survivors.
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ABOUT THE ARTIST
Had an extreme attention for detail and rarely completed more then a dozen major oil paintings a year. He was a Freelance illustrator for many well-known magazines including Colliers and the Saturday Evening Post and become known as a pulp illustrator. His work depicting life in the old west earned him his reputation of Dean of Western Art and allowed him to win just about every major Western Art prize that exist. He was voted into the Society of Illustrators in 1974 and was chosen to receive two Gold Metals.