This is Coby Whitmore Too!

This is the kind of illustration we typically associate Coby Whitmore with. His paintings of gorgeous women always have an alluring quality of sexuality and strength. No shrinking violets or wide-eyed girl-next-door types here... the Whitmore woman is a worldly woman. And he painted too many to count during his time at the top of the glamorous 1950's New York illustration scene.


But this is Coby Whitmore too! Frankly, I was shocked to discover just how experimental Whitmore was when I first saw the illustrations below. If I covered the signature you'd never guess that he had painted "Exit".


And though the woman in "That Special Face" has a hint of that special Whitmore look, the illustration in its entirety could easily be mistaken for an Al Parker.


Finally there's this piece from 1955, when Whitmore was probably at the zenith of his glamour girl painting career, when he had moved well beyond the Old School style he learned in Haddon Sundblom's studio -- and all of a sudden he gives us this fully rendered scene, complete with classic small town middle age male characters - and not a New York debutante in sight!


Surely these departures from his more typical subject matter must have been a tonic for the artist - and an opportunity to show his clients and competitors that Coby Whitmore was no one-trick pony.

Take a closer look at these illustrations in my Coby Whitmore Flickr set.