Working Drawing for ‘Trail Driver’ Design on Steuben Bowl

“Working Drawing for ‘Trail Driver’ Design on Steuben Bowl”

By Tom Lea

Thomas G. Hawkes and Frederick Carder founded Steuben Glass Works in 1903. Steuben came out with its first major engraved bowl in 1935 and over the years, many artists, including Georgia O’Keefe and Salvador Dali, created works for the firm. Steuben approached Tom Lea to collaborate on a crystal glass bowl. Entitled, “Trail Driver,” the bowl was created in 1958.

The drawing features a cowboy on horseback driving steer on a trail. The image of the cowboy on horseback is superimposed over sketches of steer from another framed work in The Bryan Museum collection also by Tom Lea, called “Sketches of Steer.” The cowboy in the forefront of this drawing appears on one side of the bowl, and the steer on the other. If viewed directly from the side with the cowboy, the etched images take on the same appearance of this drawing. Matted and framed in walnut frame; signed lower left-hand corner with the inscription “working drawing for ‘Trail Driver’ design on Steuben Bowl” signed Tom Lea, El Paso, Texas 1958.