SENATE MEMORIAL 18

53rd legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - second session, 2018

INTRODUCED BY

Mary Kay Papen

A MEMORIAL

REQUESTING THE CULTURAL AFFAIRS AND TOURISM DEPARTMENTS TO SPEARHEAD NEW MEXICO'S PARTICIPATION IN THE TOM LEA TRAIL.

     WHEREAS, Tom Lea was born in El Paso, Texas, on July 11, 1907, where his father served as mayor from 1915 to 1917 during the Mexican revolution; and

     WHEREAS, after graduating from El Paso high school, Tom attended the art institute of Chicago and became an apprentice to muralist John Warner Norton; and

     WHEREAS, between 1933 and 1936, Tom Lea served as an illustrator for the laboratory of anthropology and New Mexico Magazine in Santa Fe and served as a muralist for the works progress administration, painting murals for New Mexico state university and Branigan cultural center in Las Cruces and for other public buildings in Texas and Washington, D.C.; and

     WHEREAS, as an artist-correspondent for LIFE magazine during World War II, Tom Lea traveled over one hundred thousand miles as an eyewitness recorder of American and allied troops and their movements in the north Atlantic, the south Pacific, England, north Africa, China and Peleliu, with his iconic works published in more than ten issues of the magazine; and

     WHEREAS, after the war, in addition to continuing to paint, Tom taught himself to write, including two bestsellers, The Brave Bulls and The Wonderful Country, which became Hollywood movies, and other works, including the two-volume history of the King ranch; and

     WHEREAS, Tom Lea was a true renaissance man who excelled as a muralist, illustrator, portraitist, landscapist, studio painter, war correspondent, writer and historian and whose work communicates the history of the borderlands region; and

     WHEREAS, Tom Lea died in his hometown, El Paso, on January 19, 2001, and in 2007, Texas recognized its famous son with a centennial celebration of his birth and the establishment of Tom Lea month, with proclamations read in both houses of congress and both houses of the Texas legislature and El Paso city council; and

     WHEREAS, in 2017, the Texas legislature enacted the Tom Lea trail program to promote heritage tourism by commemorating the life and art of Tom Lea;

     NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE SENATE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO that the cultural affairs department and the tourism department be requested to join together to include New Mexico in the Tom Lea trail, by showcasing his murals in Las Cruces and his art and workplace in Santa Fe; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the departments be requested to work with the Tom Lea institute and the Texas historical commission in highlighting the prolific works of Tom Lea, chronicler of the Southwest and twentieth century America; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be transmitted to the secretaries of cultural affairs and tourism, the governor, the Tom Lea institute and the Texas historical commission.

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