Tom Lovell: Storyteller With a Brush Page: 41
104 p. : ill. ; 24 cm.View a full description of this book.
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Research, sketches, paintings and letters overlap.
s Mr. Abell and his secretary, Frances Luchini,
researched the Palace of the Governors in Santa Fe, Lovell
was putting the finishing touches on "Pecos Pueblo." They
had requested information from the Curator of Archives at
the Museum of New Mexico in Santa Fe, and in August
1972, Mr. Abell received 11 pictures in the mail of the
Governor's Palace. These were forwarded to Lovell along
with a current copy of New Mexico magazine, which fea-
tured a 1937 reproduction of this area of Santa Fe includ-
ing the Palace, a cathedral and the La Fonda Hotel. Mr.
Abell thought all of these would be of great help to Lovell
in creating this scene.
In mid-September, Mr. Abell forwarded a photo of
General Armijo - who had been appointed Governor of
Santa Fe, which was ruled by Mexico. He had found the
information in a book entitled Time of the Gringo. In
January, Mr. Abell received two sketches of the Santa Fe
scene and some snapshots of possible variations of the
scene.The first sketch was
accompanied by a letter in
which Lovell set the stage. "It
is late afternoon of a winter
day, just after a fall of sun.
Lights appear in the adjoin-
ing buildings around the
plaza. In order to create a
focal point I have assumed
the following situation: as
the Governor, his wife (per-
haps) and another woman,
very fashionably dressed,
are about to enter his car-
riage, an officer arrives from t'la880y 16. 1973
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he south with dis-patches. A soldier brings a lantern and the messages are
read on the spot as the officer and his tired horse stand
and wait. A few cart and animal tracks are seen in the fresh
snow, as the snowfall had just ended. This would be com-
positionally preferable to a great tangle of tracks and ruts.
The relatively simple foreground becomes a foil for the
complexity of the other elements. Also - just carried the
Pecos Painting to be crated."
Two weeks later, Lovell sent more photos of the illustra-
tion with a note, "There is an optical illusion of shallow-
ness and height. Doors and windows seem tall because of
angle. Note the size of figures in both photos and the size
of trees. These trees are certainly 20 years old or better."
This last letter crossed in the mail with Mr. Abell's letter
noting that he had given a lot of thought to the painting41
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Kelton, Elmer. Tom Lovell: Storyteller With a Brush, book, 2005; Midland, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1127711/m1/47/: accessed July 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Permian Basin Petroleum Museum, Library and Hall of Fame.