1925 Tom Lea "Rati" Painting
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GUEST:
It's a pen-and-ink and watercolor by a well-known Texas artist.
APPRAISER:
Who is that?
GUEST:
Tom Lea. It was painted when he was in high school. He was a friend of my grandmother's, and he gave it to my grandmother, and it's stayed in the family ever since.
APPRAISER:
Okay, and he gave it to your grandmother around the time it was painted.
GUEST:
Yes, in 1925, when, I think, he was 17 or 18 years old.
APPRAISER:
Now, you said earlier that there was a little bit of a romantic situation between them?
GUEST:
I think he dated my grandmother very briefly.
APPRAISER:
Okay.
GUEST:
And growing up, I thought this was a painting of my grandmother.
APPRAISER:
Okay.
GUEST:
Just a few years ago, I learned it's not a painting of my grandmother.
APPRAISER:
Okay. It was painted for a costume design for the school play. It hung in my grandmother's house for years and years, probably until the '70s, and then my mother gave it to me probably 15 years ago.
APPRAISER:
What would you like to find out about it?
GUEST:
I'd just like to find out how much it's worth. Not that I'm interested in selling it, just... I may have to insure it, I don't know.
APPRAISER:
Okay, let me tell you a little bit about Tom Lea, a little bit more. As you do know, he's a famous Texas artist, and he actually did graduate from El Paso High School in 1924. Tom Lea is known not only as an artist, but he was also an illustrator, an author. He was a war correspondent. He also wrote several novels which were later made into films-- two of the novels that he's famous for. One is The Brave Bulls, and the other is The Wonderful Country. This is a very early work. What he's very well known for are some of his murals done in the 1930s, when he was working for the WPA. Now, his connection to El Paso is deep. I think from 1915 to 1917, his father was the mayor of El Paso as well. He did study at Art Institute of Chicago under another famous muralist, then he worked at the WPA, and then he became famous for being a war correspondent and war artist.
GUEST:
Right.
APPRAISER:
And he was very well known as being what would be called today an embedded reporter, really. He really risked life and limb to bring stories back from both the European and Pacific theaters. As far as the painting goes, most of the works that do come onto the market are 1930s, 1940s and later. It's written lower left here, "Rati." And Rati was the Hindu goddess of love.
GUEST:
Yeah. I believe that was the character in the play that this was going to be the costume for.
APPRAISER:
Right. If I were going to put this at auction, I would put a conservative auction estimate on it of $5,000 to $7,000.
GUEST:
Mm-hmm. Well, I'll be keeping this in the family, so...
APPRAISER:
Great. As far as insurance goes, probably about two or three times that.
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