Tom Lea

Tom Lea was a genius of the twentieth century with extraordinary gifts as a muralist, illustrator, war correspondent, portraitist, Landscapist, novelist, and historian. His murals, dating from the 1930s, express the history and character of distinct regions of the United States and are found on the walls of public buildings from Washington, D.C., to El Paso, Texas. They are arguably the finest murals of the period. As an eye-witness artist correspondent for LIFE magazine during World War II, Tom Lea traveled over 100,000 miles to record U.S. and Allied soldiers, sailors, and airmen waging war worldwide. He wrote and illustrated bestselling novels -The Brave Bulls and The Wonderful Country - that were adapted into Hollywood movies, and a dozen other books about subjects as diverse as mountaineering in Wyoming, horse training in 16th century New Spain, and the history of the King Ranch. His paintings depict remote and exotic places from Ecuador to China but primarily capture subjects found near his home on the border between Mexico and Texas.