Untitled wolf drawing by Ernest Thompson Seton. Highlights of the Academy for the Love of Learning collection of Seton Drawings and Paintings/All image rights reserved.
ALL# 0944 Pencil on paper. 25×19.7 cm. Dated 1893. Signed: E.T.S. Signature added later.
Ernest Thompson Seton created this study for what became the story of “Lobo, King of Currumpaw.” First published in the November 1894 edition of Scribner’s Magazine, the story eventually propelled Seton to international fame. The drawing was created in New Mexico? Or drawn from memory at his Toronto studio? I believe the latter more likely as Seton would not have had a great deal of time for drawing on the range. Still, we will never know for sure. It is the earliest drawing from the story that I have seen.
Seton has written on it: “[illegible] to the front.” If this drawing was ever published, I have not found it. Two wolves confront a cow. Could be an issue if the wolves are hungry.
Belly Rubs
The Lobo story is Seton’s best-known work. It was featured in a BBC/PBS Nature episode first aired in 2008. I was fortunate enough to be involved with the production, although not quite enough. The British crew confused Seton with John Muir. They inexplicably hired an older actor to portray the young Seton of 1893. But I loved the titled: “The Wolf That Changed America.”
The film featured live wolf actors. In addition to responding well to belly rubs, their trainer, Sausha Seus, said of them: “The eyes of a wolf pierce your soul.” “The bond of a wolf is about loyalty, and it is unbreakable.”
The real Lobo died on January 31, 1894. He is still very much with us, a continuing reminder of what can be good in the world. Love-loyalty. Integrity. Values. These are the traits of the Gray Wolf. Human wolves demonstrate none of them.
I’ve stopped watching the news. I listen to recordings of wolf howls on youtube.