biography of Tom LEA (1907-2001)

Birth place: El Paso, TX

Addresses: Chicago area; El Paso, TX in 1976

Profession: Painter, illustrator

Studied: AIC, 1924-26; J. Norton in Chicago, 1926-33; study in Italy, 1930; New Mexico, 1933-35; Baylor Univ. (hon. Litt.D., 1967); Southern Methodist Univ. (hon. L.H.D., 1970).

Exhibited: AIC, 1926; WMAA, 1939; PAFA Ann., 1939-40; All-Texas Ann., Mus. FA, Houston, 1940 (prize); 48 States Comp.; Fort Worth (TX) Art Center, 1961 (solo) & El Paso (TX) Mus. Art, 1963 (solo).

Work: Branigan Mem. Lib., Las Cruces, NM; Lib., New Mexico College A&M; First Baptist Church, El Paso; Dallas Mus. FA; El Paso Mus. Art; Mus. New Mexico; Dallas Mus. FA; El Paso Mus. Art; State Capitol, Austin, TX; Pentagon War Art Coll. Commissions: murals, Italy,1930, South Park Com. Bldg. (Chicago), Court House & Pub. Lib., El Paso, U.S. Post Office Bldg., Pleasant Hill (MO), Odessa (TX)& Wash. (DC)

Comments: WPA artist. Positions: artist & war correspondent, Life Magazine, 1941-46. Auth./Illustr.: A Grizzly from the Coral Sea, 1944; Peleliu Landing, 1945; The Wonderful Country, 1952; The King Ranch, Vols. I & II, 1957; The Primal Yoke, 1960; The Hands of Cantu, 1964; A Picture Gallery, 1968, pub. Little; plus others. Illustra.: Saturday Evening Post, 1939, Apache Gold and Yaqui Silver, by J. Frank Dobie, pub. Little, Brown, 1939.

Sources: WW73; WW47; Falk, Exh. Record Series.

Legals