July 2009
Gallery Talk by Myrna Zanetell
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Tom Lea’s legacy honored all July
Have you ever asked yourself why collectors and other art aficionados can quickly bring to mind the names of certain artists and discuss their work in depth while other equally talented individuals have been relegated to near obscurity? While a high-quality body of work is a prerequisite, advocates and devotees of the artist can be equally important. In our own community, nowhere is this truth becoming more apparent than through observation of the growing legacy of muralist, author and easel painter Tom Lea.
During a career that spanned nearly seven decades, Lea built an international reputation based on his Depression-era murals; his duties as a correspondent for LIFE magazine during World War II; a collection of written works, two of which were made into movies; and a vast oeuvre of drawings and oil paintings. In spite of these accomplishments, Lea’s name was not always recognized outside the El Paso region. One reason being that in later years, friends and admirers purchased his work as quickly as it was produced, placing it in private collections rather than on display in public venues.
Keeping this in mind, Lea could not have chosen a more suitable person than Adair Margo to perpetuate his legacy. Prior to his death, at age 93, the El Paso icon made the request of Margo, family friend and his exclusive gallery representative, to “look after my work.”
Margo notes, “Tom has been gone for 11 years, and yet, I am still just beginning to see my way in understanding what that meant by that request.”
During the 15 years her gallery has represented his work, Margo has been instrumental in placing Lea’s painting, drawings and murals in the El Paso Museum of Art, supporting the designation of the wing that bears his name and bringing his work to the attention of prominent collectors, including former President and first lady George W. and Laura Bush.
Wanting to remain in the shadow of Lea’s greatness, Margo insists, “Tom already had a national reputation, so what I am doing is merely a ‘reminder’ of those accomplishments.”
Last summer, Margo heightened her efforts to achieve public awareness of Lea and his work by encouraging the city to designate July as “Tom Lea Month,” a citywide tribute to the artist featuring exhibits, lectures and film showings held at a variety of venues throughout the region, including UTEP, Adair Margo Fine Art, Fort Bliss, the Mexican Consulate, The Plaza Theatre, El Paso Historical Society and New Mexico State University.
Now in its second year, Tom Lea Month will be even more ambitious. Explaining that the event will continue to grow each succeeding year based upon participation of community partners, Margo relates that venues all across the region are coming up with some fantastic activities. Participants have been invited to sketch and produce written works based upon the Lea collection at the El Paso Museum of Art. UTEP will feature a series of photographs by C.E. Waterhouse, a close friend who documented Lea’s work of the 1930s, including his painting of “Pass of the North” for the federal courthouse in El Paso. The Adair Margo Gallery will be displaying drawings from “The Nesters” mural done in 1936 for the lobby of the Benjamin Franklin Postal Station in Washington, D.C. The mural itself has been lost, but the drawings are from a private collection in San Antonio. A garden party honoring Lea is scheduled at the historic Burges Home on Yandell.
A series of seven informative lectures, christened the Tom Lea University, will kick off the monthlong celebration. Local film producer Jackson Polk has been invited to record the lectures in preparation for a future library on the courses. As an introduction, Margo has arranged for Peter Meyers, associate curator of art at the Ransom Humanities Research Center of UT Austin, to conduct a private tour of the Tom Lea Room beginning at 9:45 a.m., Wednesday, July 1. Guests will be able to view Lea drawings and manuscripts not otherwise available to the public.
Sessions (5–7 p.m.): July 2 — J.P. Bryan, founder of the Torch Energy Art Collection, will discuss Lea’s historic contributions to Texas with renowned publisher, photographer and screen writer Bill Wittliff, perhaps best-known for the “Lonesome Dove” miniseries; July 9 — Mardee de Wetter and “Archie” cartoonist Tom Moore will share memories of Tom Lea as a family friend; July 11 — Brendan Greeley, editor of Lea’s book “The Two Thousand Yard Stare: Tom Lea’s World War II,” will provide insights into diaries, photographs, writing and paintings created while Lea was a correspondent for LIFE magazine; July 24 — Dr. Mimi Gladstein, professor of American literature at UTEP, will discuss Lea’s novels “The Brave Bulls” and “The Wonderful Country”; July 25 — Cynthia Farah Haines will discuss the adaptation of Lea’s literature into film.
The month will end with a special showing of “The Brave Bulls” in the Philanthropy Theatre wing of The Plaza Theatre.
Going beyond this annual tribute, this spring Margo became instrumental in founding the Tom Lea Institute, an organization whose mission is “perpetuating the literary and artistic works of Tom Lea.” Their hope is to reach a much larger audience, sharing knowledge about the “contributions of this 20th-century genius and El Paso native son.” The newly constituted seven-member Founding Board of Directors for the Tom Lea Institute, which received its official designation as a nonprofit organization in May 2009, is composed of a stellar cast of supporters: J.P. Bryan, founder of the Torch Energy Collection; former first lady Laura Bush; James Clement of the King Ranch family; Anne Sewell Johnson, former head of Art in Embassies; Pamela Pitzer Willeford, former ambassador to Switzerland; collector Charles Kuper; and Lea’s son, James. Margo jests that she has gladly accepted the position of “unpaid director.”
She enthuses, “I’m just excited about getting this project off the ground.”
The group’s nonprofit status offers a variety of means to build resources, including grant applications, fundraisers, etc.
She explains, “We already have a grant from the Raytheon Corporation to help fund the July sessions of our mini-university. In turn, the institute will be able to provide grants for other projects. For example, Jackson Polk is producing a new DVD on ‘Tom Lea’s El Paso’ and the Dallas State Fairgrounds has already contacted me about premiering it because they are rededicating the West Texas Room, which has one of Tom’s murals. Also, the museum at the U.S. Naval Academy wants to open an exhibition of Tom’s work in 2011. I know whom to contact for loans of the work, but you need resources to cover such extras as insurance, shipping, etc.”
Margo emphasizes, “During his lifetime, Tom was a giver, so we want to uphold that tradition by giving something back to people who become founding members. Tom wrote a beautiful little book called ‘Old Mount Franklin.’ It was like personal conversations with his collectors, so only 300 copies were printed. His son, Jim, has encouraged us to do another run, again keeping it exclusive, so that people who contribute at the institute’s inception could receive a limited-edition book.”
Margo relates that Dr. Mimi Gladstein, professor of American literature at UTEP, represents an example of the ripple that is spreading as people become acquainted with the diversity of Lea’s talents.
“Mimi is reading all of Tom’s books for the first time, in preparation for her lecture, which discusses his novels in the context of Ernest Hemingway and John Steinbeck.” Margo notes, “This is one way to make our community aware of Tom’s legacy. Just like towns which boast, ‘This is the home of John Steinbeck or the home of William Faulkner,’ El Paso can proudly announce, ‘We are the home of Tom Lea.’
“Even though this will take time, there is already widespread excitement, because everybody in the community has a stake in documenting this legacy. There are great stories about where Tom painted his murals and how he delivered them to locations such as New Mexico State in his old Dodge. We invite people to share their encounters with Tom, because it is important to write down these memories while they are still fresh. Sometimes it doesn’t dawn on us that these simple interactions are ‘history’ until time passes,” Margo shares, adding, “Tom was such an extraordinary person that, like our star on the mountain, his legacy can become a beacon in El Paso.”
Myrna Zanetell is a freelance writer specializing in the visual arts.
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