Thomas C. Lea III
| Thomas Calloway "Tom" Lea III | |
|---|---|
| Born |
July 11, 1907 El Paso, Texas |
| Died | January 29, 2001 (aged 93) El Paso, Texas |
| Pen name | Tom Lea |
| Occupation | Author, Painter |
| Nationality | American |
| Genre | non-fiction, murals, fiction |
| Subject | West Texas World War II ranching bullfighting North-central Mexico |
| Spouse | Nancy June Taylor (1927; her death 1936) Sarah Dighton (1938; his death) |
| Children | James Dighton Lea |
Thomas Calloway "Tom" Lea III (July 11, 1907 – January 29, 2001) was an American muralist, illustrator, artist, war correspondent, novelist, and historian.
The bulk of his art and literary works were about Texas, north-central Mexico, and his World War II experience in the South Pacific and Asia. Two of his most popular novels, The Brave Bulls and the The Wonderful Country, are widely considered to be classics of southwestern American literature.
Lea was born in El Paso, Texas, to Thomas Calloway Lea Jr. (a prominent attorney), and the former Zola May Utt. From 1915 to 1917, his father was mayor of El Paso. As mayor, Tom Jr. made a public declaration that he would arrest Pancho Villa, after Villa raided Columbus, New Mexico, on March 9, 1916, if Villa dared enter El Paso. Villa then responded by offering a thousand pesos gold bounty on Lea. For six months Tom and his brother Joe had to have a police escort to and from school, and there was a 24-hour guard on the house.
He graduated from El Paso High School in 1924. From 1924 to 1926 he attended the Art Institute of Chicago and then apprenticed and assisted John W. Norton, a Chicago muralist, from 1927 to 1932.
In 1927, he wed Nancy June Taylor, a fellow art student. In 1930 Norton suggested that Tom take an art tour of Europe to study the masters. He and Nancy went to Paris and saw an exhibit of Eugène Delacroix at the Louvre, and Delacroix was his "favorite". Next they traveled to Florence, Orvieto, Rome, Capri. Then, after a four-month tour, it was back to Le Havre to catch the SS Ile de France.
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