Fort Bliss Monitor

"Two-Thousand Yard Stare” by Tom Lea, U.S. Army Center for
Military History, Washington, D.C.

War artist Tom Lea
would be 100 this month

Daniela Vestal
Monitor Staff

“I live on the east side of the mountain. It is the sunrise side, not the sunset side. It is the side to see the day that is coming, not the side to see the day that is gone. The best day is the day coming ...,” “A Picture Gallery,” autobiography by Tom Lea, Life magazine war art correspondent.

Rene Klish, Army art curator, gave a presentation Friday on the importance of war artists and the life and work of El Paso native Tom Lea at the Fort Bliss Museum and Air Defense Artillery Museum and Study Center.
“I am not denigrating the work of photojournalists, having been one, but the camera sees with one eye,” Klish said. “When you look through the lens [of a camera] that’s what the photographer sees. If the photographer does not capture that [moment], then it’s lost. The artist sees, with both eyes, the action and what is going on in the periphery. What Tom Lea did and what the power of combat art is, is that artists not only document the moment, they interpret the moment. This is why I say we should still have combat artists as well as the combat photographers. They can capture the moment, retain it and present it,” said Klish.

Klish read from a memorandum issued by the War Department to all its artists.

“In [World War II] there will be a greater amount than ever before of factual reporting, photographs and moving pictures. You are not sent out merely as news gatherers, you have been selected as outstanding American artists who will record the war and all its phases. As [it has] been tasked on you as artists and as human beings, the War Department Art Advisory committee is giving you as much latitude as possible in your method of work …. What we insist on is the best work you are individually capable of and the most integrated picture of war … Battle scenes and front lines, battle landscapes, the wounded, the dying and the dead, prisoners of war, field hospitals and base hospitals, wrecked habitations and bombing scenes, caricature sketches of our own troops and prisons ... Duplicate to your hearts content. Stress … the essence and spirit of war.”

While Tom Lea was not directly employed by the War Department, he was listed as an alternate. He was employed as a war art correspondent by Life.

He landed with the first assault wave of the 1st Marines on Peleliu, Palau, Sep. 15, 1944. He documented the experience in a book he wrote and illustrated titled “Peleliu Landing.” He watched, and later documented, the sinking of the USS Wasp from the deck of the USS Hornet, which sank herself four days after he left.

Tom Lea was born July 11, 1907. After attending public schools here, he attended the Chicago Art Institute. He did illustrations for Santa Fe Magazine and won several competitions for murals under the Treasury Department. He also illustrated several books, including “Apache Gold” and “Yaqui Silver.”

From 1941 to 1946, Tom Lea served as a WWII correspondent for Life, traveling over 100,000 miles. Following WWII, he wrote and illustrated two best-selling novels, “The Brave Bulls” and “The Wonderful Country,” which were later turned into motion pictures. He wrote several more books and worked as a studio painter until he lost his eyesight in 1998. He died Jan. 29, 2001 from complications due to a fall at his home.

The El Paso Museum of Art will host a lecture presentation by Philip Parisi titled “Tom Lea’s Historical Imagination,” from 2 to 4 p.m. Sunday. The event is in conjunction with Tom Lea Month and is free to the public. Some of Lea’s works will be on display.



www.bliss.army.mil	Published for the Fort Bliss/El Paso, Texas Community	July 26, 2007

	"Two-Thousand Yard Stare” by Tom Lea, U.S. Army Center for Military History, Washington, D.C. War artist Tom Lea would be 100 this month Daniela Vestal Monitor Staff “I live on the east side of the mountain. It is the sunrise side, not the sunset side. It is the side to see the day that is coming, not the side to see the day that is gone. The best day is the day coming ...,” “A Picture Gallery,” autobiography by Tom Lea, Life magazine war art correspondent. Rene Klish, Army art curator, gave a presentation Friday on the importance of war artists and the life and work of El Paso native Tom Lea at the Fort Bliss Museum and Air Defense Artillery Museum and Study Center. “I am not denigrating the work of photojournalists, having been one, but the camera sees with one eye,” Klish said. “When you look through the lens [of a camera] that’s what the photographer sees. If the photographer does not capture that [moment], then it’s lost. The artist sees, with both eyes, the action and what is going on in the periphery. What Tom Lea did and what the power of combat art is, is that artists not only document the moment, they interpret the moment. This is why I say we should still have combat artists as well as the combat photographers. They can capture the moment, retain it and present it,” said Klish. Klish read from a memorandum issued by the War Department to all its artists. “In [World War II] there will be a greater amount than ever before of factual reporting, photographs and moving pictures. You are not sent out merely as news gatherers, you have been selected as outstanding American artists who will record the war and all its phases. As [it has] been tasked on you as artists and as human beings, the War Department Art Advisory committee is giving you as much latitude as possible in your method of work …. What we insist on is the best work you are individually capable of and the most integrated picture of war … Battle scenes and front lines, battle landscapes, the wounded, the dying and the dead, prisoners of war, field hospitals and base hospitals, wrecked habitations and bombing scenes, caricature sketches of our own troops and prisons ... Duplicate to your hearts content. Stress … the essence and spirit of war.” While Tom Lea was not directly employed by the War Department, he was listed as an alternate. He was employed as a war art correspondent by Life. He landed with the first assault wave of the 1st Marines on Peleliu, Palau, Sep. 15, 1944. He documented the experience in a book he wrote and illustrated titled “Peleliu Landing.” He watched, and later documented, the sinking of the USS Wasp from the deck of the USS Hornet, which sank herself four days after he left. Tom Lea was born July 11, 1907. After attending public schools here, he attended the Chicago Art Institute. He did illustrations for Santa Fe Magazine and won several competitions for murals under the Treasury Department. He also illustrated several books, including “Apache Gold” and “Yaqui Silver.” From 1941 to 1946, Tom Lea served as a WWII correspondent for Life, traveling over 100,000 miles. Following WWII, he wrote and illustrated two best-selling novels, “The Brave Bulls” and “The Wonderful Country,” which were later turned into motion pictures. He wrote several more books and worked as a studio painter until he lost his eyesight in 1998. He died Jan. 29, 2001 from complications due to a fall at his home. The El Paso Museum of Art will host a lecture presentation by Philip Parisi titled “Tom Lea’s Historical Imagination,” from 2 to 4 p.m. Sunday. The event is in conjunction with Tom Lea Month and is free to the public. Some of Lea’s works will be on display.