Tom Lovell (1909-1997)

The present work was published as an illustration in True Magazine titled "Blondin Crossing Niagara" in 1953. Born Jean-François Gravelet, Charles Blondin was an acrobat famous for crossing Niagara Falls on a single 1,100-foot-long tightrope on June 30, 1859. He performed the stunt several times thereafter and added several variations to the routine, such as crossing while blindfolded, wearing stilts, pushing a wheelbarrow and making an omelet at the halfway mark.