Tom Lovell (American, 1909–1997)The Snowy Owl ProphecySigned, copyrighted and dated 'TOM LOVELL NAWA © 1984' bottom left; also titled, dated, copyrighted and signed verso; also signed, titled, dated and copyrighted on stretcher bar verso, oil on canvas40 1/2 x 30 1/4 in. (102.9 x 76.8cm)PROVENANCE:The Coeur D'Alene Art Auction, Reno, sale of July 23, 2011, lot 219.Acquired directly from the above sale.Private Collection, Colorado.EXHIBITED:"Tom Lovell: An Invitation to History," National Cowboy Hall of Fame and Western Heritage Center, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, March 21-June 7, 1992 (no. IL. 92.9.5)NOTE:"E.C. (Teddy Blue) Abbott was an English born Texan who spent his early years driving trail herds north to Kansas. Later he made his home in Montana and married a Cheyenne girl. Naturally he was on good terms with the Indians. One day in early winter he was riding with a friend when they came upon a snowy owl. The Indian told him that it was their belief that this was a sign of a very severe winter. This was not necessarily so but about every five years these large birds would drift below the Arctic Circle because their food supply (Lemmings) would become scarce. Abbott was a friend of Charlie Russell's and wrote his own story We Pointed Them North.- Tom Lovell