The Art of War

The paintings of Tom Lea, Life magazine's artist-correspondent during World War II.

  • By Rebecca Maksel
  • AirSpaceMag.com, February 06, 2009
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Tom Lea


November 18, 1943: “It’s cold as hell—I wish I had brought some warm clothes. I spent the morning with Tex Hill and his fighter group and made some drawings at one of his alert shacks. He has really got some good boys flying his P-40s. The charcoal stove in the alert shack was very comforting—it was miserable trying to sketch outside in the cold.” November 20: “I’m all squared away in China now and hope to leave here and go over the Hump to Assam tomorrow….If I do get my ride this will be my last night in China…. I am in no way sorry to go; yet I am sure that when I am on the other side of the world, the days I have spent here will rise in my memory, and I will feel around me sharp and clear the vast unbreaking tide of China’s life.”


| 9 of 11 |



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Comments (3)

What an excellent well written account of the life and works of Tom Lea who is an underappreciated artist and writer of the World War II era.

The pictures and the captions tell us a lot about the man himself. A worthy representative I think, of a very worthy generation.

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