Tom Lea – American Artist
El Paso artist Tom Lea was known for not only his painting, but for his writing, as well. Born in 1907, the son of the Mayor of El Paso demonstrated an artistic talent early on . With no art school in El Paso, he moved to Chicago in 1924 to attend the Art Institute of Chicago where he studied under the muralist John Warner Norton. Lea worked there until 1933 as a mural painter, commercial artist and teacher. From 1933-35 Lea was on the staff of the Laboratory of Anthropology in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
In the 1930s he worked on WPA project murals for public buildings in Dallas as well as creating “The Nesters” for the Benjamin Franklin Post Office Building in Washington, DC. In 1936 he returned to El Paso and continued with his mural painting, creating the”Pass of the North” for the federal courthouse and a mural, now lost, for the First Baptist Church. He also contributed illustrations to Saturday Evening Post and Life magazine. During World War II, Henry Luce hired Lea as a war correspondent illustrator to cover the war in the Pacific for Life magazine. His paintings during this time include the “Sinking of the Aircraft Carrier, Wasp”, now hanging in the U. S. Army Center of Military History. He also covered the landing of the Marines on Peleliu Island. In the hope of preserving them, Luce and Lea presented President Franklin Roosevelt a collection of Life‘s war paintings.
Lea became an accomplished book illustrator, working with numerous authors in producing such books as: APACHE GOLD-YAQUI SILVER, J. Frank Dobie, 1939 THE LONGHORNS, J. Frank Dobie, 1940 KNIGHT IN THE SUN, Marshall Hall, 1962
He was an author, as well, writing and illustrating works of both fiction and non-fiction, many of which were prepared in collaboration with the noted publisher. Carl Hertzog: RANDADO, 1941 A GRIZZLY FROM THE CORAL SEA, 1944 PELELIU LANDING, 1945 BULLFIGHT MANUAL FOR SPECTATORS, 1949 THE BRAVE BULLS, 1949, “Carl P. Collins Award” THE WONDERFUL COUNTRY, 1952 THE PRIMAL YOKE, 1960 THE HANDS OF CANTU, 1964, Texas Institute “Jesse Jones Award” THE KING RANCH (two volumes), 1957 A PICTURE GALLERY, 1968 THE CRUCIBLE OF THE SUN, 1974 THE BRAVE BULLS and THE WONDERFUL COUNTRY were both produced as movies.
Until 1993, Lea did not work through a gallery to sell his work. He kept a running list of people who wanted to buy one of his pieces and as he finished a piece would call the next in line to offer it for sale. As a result, most of his work is in the hands of personal friends and private collectors and little of his work is seen on the resale market. Lea stopped painting in 1987 because of failing eyesight. One of his last works, “Invincible”, was displayed at the memorial service after his death in 2001.
Information courtesy of Charlton Hall Galleries Inc., March 2003.