Coby Whitmore
American painter and illustrator (1913–1988)
title: "Coby Whitmore" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["american-magazine-illustrators", "american-art-educators", "1913-births", "1988-deaths", "artists-from-dayton,-ohio", "people-from-briarcliff-manor,-new-york", "20th-century-american-people"] description: "American painter and illustrator (1913–1988)" topic_path: "geography/united-states" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coby_Whitmore" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::summary American painter and illustrator (1913–1988) ::
::data[format=table title="Infobox artist"]
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| name | Coby Whitmore |
| birth_name | Maxwell Coburn Whitmore |
| birth_date | |
| birth_place | Dayton, Ohio, U.S. |
| death_date | |
| death_place | Hilton Head, South Carolina, U.S. |
| known_for | Commercial art, Magazine illustration |
| awards | Society of Illustrators Hall of Fame |
| :: |
| name = Coby Whitmore | image = | image_size = | caption = | birth_name = Maxwell Coburn Whitmore | birth_date = | birth_place = Dayton, Ohio, U.S. | death_date = | death_place = Hilton Head, South Carolina, U.S. | known_for = Commercial art, Magazine illustration | training = | movement = | notable_works = | patrons = | awards = Society of Illustrators Hall of Fame Maxwell Coburn Whitmore (June 11, 1913 – October 12, 1988) was an American painter and magazine illustrator known for his Saturday Evening Post covers, and a commercial artist whose work included advertisements for Gallo Wine and other brands. He additionally became known as a race-car designer.
Whitmore was inducted into the Society of Illustrators Hall of Fame in 1978.
Biography
Early life and career
::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/ba/CobyWhitmoreSatEvePost3-53.jpg" caption="Whitmore illustration for the March 28, 1953, issue of ''[[The Saturday Evening Post]]''"] ::
Coby Whitmore was born in Dayton, Ohio, the son of Maxwell Coburn Whitmore Sr. and Charlotte Bosler. He graduated from Steele High School After moving to Chicago, Illinois, he apprenticed with Haddon Sundblom, illustrator of the "Sundblom Circle", in addition to working for the Chicago Herald Examiner and taking night classes at the Chicago Art Institute. There he illustrated for leading magazines of the day and did other commercial art.
Whitmore and Jon Whitcomb were two of the top illustrators at Cooper, which in the 1940s and 1950s "monopolized the ladies' magazines like McCall's, Ladies Home Journal, and Good Housekeeping with postwar images of the ideal white American family centered around pretty, middle-class, female consumers living happily in new kitchens, new houses, driving new cars, living with handsome husbands, adorable children, and cute dogs".
Aside from women's magazines, Whitmore also illustrated for Esquire, The Saturday Evening Post and Sports Illustrated.
Later life and career
Additionally, Whitmore, by then living in Briarcliff Manor, New York, teamed with former World War II fighter pilot John Fitch, an imported car dealer in White Plains, New York, to design and race sports cars in the 1950s and 1960s.
Personal life
He and his wife, Virginia, moved to Hilton Head, South Carolina, in 1968. He died there on October 12, 1988, at age 75.
Legacy
Whitmore's work influenced such comic-book artists as John Buscema, John Romita, Sr., and Phil Noto. Glen Murakami, producer of the 2000s Teen Titans animated series on Cartoon Network, cited Whitmore and fellow illustrator Bob Peak as "big influences on the loose, painterly style we have been using for the backgrounds".
His work was presented alongside that of several contemporaries of illustrator Al Parker in the "Re-Imagining the American Woman" section of the retrospective "Ephemeral Beauty: Al Parker and the American Women's Magazine, 1940-1960", mounted by the Norman Rockwell Museum from June 9 to October 28, 2007.
Whitmore art is included in the permanent collections of The Pentagon, the United States Air Force Academy, the New Britain Museum of American Art, and Syracuse University.
Accolades
Whitmore was inducted into the Society of Illustrators Hall of Fame in 1978.
He received awards from the Art Directors Clubs of New York, Philadelphia and Chicago.
References
References
- "Maxwell Coburn Whitmore: 1978 Hall of Fame Inductee". [[Society of Illustrators]].
- [https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:J2J7-36K M.C. Whitmore], [[Social Security Number]] 287-10-5182, at the [[Social Security Death Index]] via FamilySearch.org.
- "M. Coburn Whitmore (1913 - 1988)". Ask Art: The Artists' Bluebook.
- "Biography: Coby Whitmore". [[The Saturday Evening Post.
- Pelotas, Geza. (n.d.). "The Charles E. Cooper Studio". Atman Art.
- 1-58115-386-4, {{ISBN. 978-1-58115-386-6, p. 42
- [http://www.fulltable.com/vts/aoi/w/w/menun.htm "The Visual Telling of Stories: Coby Whitmore"], Fulltable.com, n.d. [https://web.archive.org/web/20110203013917/http://www.fulltable.com/vts/aoi/w/w/c.htm Archive] of page "Coby Whitmore: Gallery One - Illustrated Fiction", retrieved July 25, 2010.
- Frank, Michael. (2001). "The Fitch Whitmore Le Mans Special in Detail". New Jersey Jaguar Touring Club.
- Blunk, Frank M.. (July 8, 1966). "Luxury Sports Car of Tomorrow Is Unveiled Here". [[The New York Times]].
- (February 22, 1953). "Blackwood Takes Race; Hits 132 M. P.H. in National Modified Sports Car Test". The New York Times.
- Spurlock, David J., and John Buscema, ''John Buscema Sketchbook'' (Vanguard Productions: Lebanon, N.J. 2001), Hardcover {{ISBN. 1-887591-18-4, signed-numbered hardcover {{ISBN. 1-887591-17-6, [[Trade paperback (comics). trade paperback]] {{ISBN. 1-887591-19-2, p. 27.
- Spurlock, J. David, and John Romita. ''John Romita Sketchbook''. (Vanguard Productions: Lebanon, N.J. 2002) {{ISBN. 1-887591-27-3 {{ISBN. 1-887591-29-X, p. 16
- Arrant, Chris. (November 5, 2008). "Phil Noto on ''Superman/Supergirl: Maelstrom''". [[Newsarama.com]].
- Worley, Rob. (July 14, 2003). "Teen Titans, LXG, Hulk, Illuminati, X-Men: Comics2Film Wrap". [[ComicBookResources.com]].
- (n.d.). "Norman Rockwell Museum Presents First In-Depth Exhibition of Influential Illustrator's Work". [[Norman Rockwell Museum]].
- "Hall of Fame". [[Society of Illustrators]].
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