Tom Lea was a realist who painted things as they are, but just happened
to see more of what they are than most of us do. A muralist, painter,
book illustrator, World War II artist-correspondent, historian,
novelist, and humanist, Lea died in 2001 after creating in some sixty
years a corpus of work that has captivated those who know it. This
volume makes available the full range of his vigorous work. Old admirers
of Lea's talents will delight in this presentation, and a whole new
generation will be awed by the unique contribution he has made.
A Southwesterner from multicultural El Paso, Lea gave new vision to the
misunderstood lands often thought of as barren wastes. As Kathleen G.
Hjerter says in her foreword, in his paintings "the desert's melded
colors are vibrant under many subtle gradations of light; the mesas and
mountains reach up to a sky enormous enough to hold everyone's soul."
But it is not just the southwest. its life and lore that Lea knew. Any
subject he portrayed in picture or words (he wrote several outstanding
books, including The Wonderful Country) he first researched minutely.
Thus, he brought marvelous detail to his portrayal of the Mexican
bullfighter, the Australian ranches and Texas cattle of the King empire,
and the Indians, pioneers, and ranch hands of his own corner of the
world. In the Second World War, as an artist-correspondent for Life
magazine, he captured both the weaponry and the emotions of war. On
assignment in China he developed a love for that land that gave him not
only many subjects for paintings but also his favorite and, in later
years, most characteristic medium: Chinese ink applied with a fine
brush.
In China, too, he came to know the ideogram whose symbols became for
him, in William Weber Johnson's words, a "sort of personal artistic
trinity" the earth, the sky, and man between-man linked very urgently
and simply with cosmos, nature as the catalyst. These elements and this
link-- interpreted through a stunning talent by a very private, honest,
and modest artist--inspired the art of the incomparable Tom Lea.
