Coby Whitmore Pair of Limited Edition vintage, Savannah, beach prints signed

Two rare, pencil-signed and numbered lithographs by the listed artist, Coby Whitmore. “Girl on a Savannah” and “Lady with a Parasol” were published in 1982 as an edition of 1200 prints, signed and numbered by the artist. The image size of each is 15 x 20” (18 x 24”with the white border). All prints are in excellent condition, with the exception of slight yellowing around the edge of the paper which does not affect the image or signature area. The print is unframed and is shipped in a shipping tube. Shipping is included if mailed within the continental U.S. Additional charges at the buyer's expense will be applied if the work is to be sent overseas. Please e-mail any questions prior to bidding. Additional photographs are available upon request. Payment is required within 3 days of auction end. PayPal is an accepted form of payment. All other payment types, please inquire. The seller reserves the right to end the auction at anytime. Biography of Artist (courtesy of LaRoche Collections at https://www.larochecollections.com/whitmore-about) A superstar among American illustrators in the heyday of illustrations, Maxwell Coburn Whitmore was best known for his “clinch” scenes, romantic drawings he created using beautiful young actresses as models, among them Grace Kelly. The illustrations were featured on covers of popular magazines like The Saturday Evening Post, Cosmopolitan, and Ladies’ Home Journal.” Whitmore, who studied at the Dayton ArtInstitute and later the Chicago Art Institute, began his career as an apprentice for well-known Chicago illustrator Haddon Sundblom. In 1936, he landed a job at the legendary Chicago Herald-Examiner where he learned how to draw everything from burlesque to furniture. He worked for a commercial studio in Cincinnati and later a studio in Chicago before signing on with Charles Cooper, who ran the biggest art studio in the country. During his illustrious career at Cooper Studio, Whitmore became well known for his action drawings published in SportsIllustrated and serials he painted for John Steinbeck stories. But his greatest notoriety came from painting the top models and movie starts of the era. “He was the first illustrator to use GraceKelly as a model for a Cosmo cover,” Bowler said. “She became one of his ‘Whitmore girls,’ too.” When The Society of Illustrators inducted him into their Hall of Fame, they wrote, “There cannot be enough said about the beauty of Coby Whitmore as a person… A man of genuine humility, he seems truly not to know how good he is.” Whitmore moved to Hilton Head in 1968 and had a tremendous impact on the development of the island as a small arts town. Several other renowned illustrators from New York, including Joe DeMers, Bernard D’Andrea, and Bowler, followed his lead moving to the island years later. The artists formed a group called the Round Table and would meet weekly at the Red PianoGallery where Whitmore kept a studio.