Tom Lea (American, 1907-2001) Chinese Hillside, Szechuan Province, 1947 Gouache and watercolor on paper 19-1/8 x 22-1/4 inches (48.6 x 56.5 cm) (sheet) Signed, titled, and inscribed lower left: CHINESE HILLSIDE, SZECHUAN PROVINCE, 10 NOVEMBER 1943 Tom Lea Property from The Tom Lea Institute, El Paso, Texas PROVENANCE: The artist; MBank, El Paso, Texas, acquired from the above, by 1989; Wells Fargo Bank, acquired from the above, 2000; Gift to the present owner from the above. LITERATURE: K.G. Hjerter, The Art of Tom Lea, College Station, Texas, 1989, p. 138, illustrated (as Chinese Hillside). Tom Lea's development as both a painter and documentary illustrator was decisively influenced by his wartime experience. Working on assignment with LIFE magazine in 1941, Tom Lea's commercial works from this period reflect a sustained engagement with the environments and cultures he encountered. Nowhere is this more evident than in his time in China, where he was stationed in Chungking and undertook a sketching journey along the Yangtze River. The present work was executed in 1947 but based on site sketches produced during Lea's trip to the Szechuan Province in 1943. Recalling this experience, Lea described, "a dreamlike quality to the misty flow of the great river through the quiet land so anciently known and lived upon and used and shaped and loved by generation after generation of patient men," concluding, "the past stood written in everything" (as quoted in K.G. Hjerter, The Art of Tom Lea, College Station, Texas, 1989, p. 16). The sketches and impressions he gathered in China would prove formative, leading him to create a body of postwar paintings that extended his documentary practice into a more contemplative ritual. HID12401132022 © 2026 Heritage Auctions | All Rights Reserved www.HA.com/TexasAuctioneerLicenseNotice

The artist; MBank, El Paso, Texas, acquired from the above, by 1989; Wells Fargo Bank, acquired from the above, 2000; Gift to the present owner from the above.

Condition report available upon request.
Framed Dimensions 33.5 X 36 Inches