Digital Repository

Tom Lea

A mural in the El Paso Federal Court House named Pass of the North typifies the work of Texas artist Tom Lea. Larger-than-life figures representing El Paso's many inhabitants range across the courthouse wall. Behind them, stark desert light illuminates a mountain range, while storm clouds sweep across the plains in the distance.

Image: Tom Lea and his 1938 mural Pass of the North in the Federal Courthouse, El Paso, Texas. Ewing Waterhouse, photographer. Courtesy of the Tom Lea Institute.

Audio: Houston Public Media

Photograph of Tom Lea and his 1938 mural Pass of the North in the Federal Courthouse in El Paso