Roy Best (December 3, 1892 – ?) was an American illustrator and painter of

pin-up girl A pin-up model is a model whose mass-produced pictures and photographs have wide appeal within the popular culture of a society. Pin-up models are usually glamour, actresses, or fashion models whose pictures are intended for informal and aesth ...

Biography

He was born in Waverly, Ohio on December 3, 1892, and attended the Art Institute of Cincinnati, working on a

railroad Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...

construction crew to support himself. He later enrolled in the

Art Institute of Chicago The Art Institute of Chicago, founded in 1879, is one of the oldest and largest art museums in the United States. The museum is based in the Art Institute of Chicago Building in Chicago's Grant Park (Chicago), Grant Park. Its collection, stewa ...

. Later, Best was represented in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

by American Artists. During this time he painted several covers for ''

The Saturday Evening Post ''The Saturday Evening Post'' is an American magazine published six times a year. It was published weekly from 1897 until 1963, and then every other week until 1969. From the 1920s to the 1960s, it was one of the most widely circulated and influ ...

''. By 1931, Best was painting pin-ups for the Joseph C. Hoover & Sons calendar company. That same year, he was commissioned by the Whitman Publishing Company to illustrate ''The Peter Pan Picture Book'', based on

J. M. Barrie Sir James Matthew Barrie, 1st Baronet, (; 9 May 1860 19 June 1937) was a Scottish novelist and playwright, best remembered as the creator of Peter Pan. He was born and educated in Scotland and then moved to London, where he wrote several succe ...

's play ''

Peter Pan Peter Pan is a fictional character created by Scottish novelist and playwright J. M. Barrie. A free-spirited and mischievous young boy who can fly and never grows up, Peter Pan spends his never-ending childhood having adventures on the mythical ...

''; an illustration from this project was the basis for the Peter Pan Bus Lines logo. He illustrated many other children's books, including "Little Friends from Many Lands" by Mary Windsor (Whitman Publishing Company, 1935). He also painted a number of well-known actresses such as Grace Kelly. In 1942, Best was commissioned by the Treasury's

Section of Painting and Sculpture Section, Sectioning, or Sectioned may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * Section (music), a complete, but not independent, musical idea * Section (typography), a subdivision, especially of a chapter, in books and documents ** Section s ...

to paint a post office mural, ''Arrival of Packet'', in his hometown of Waverly. Also in 1942, he was hired by Brown & Bigelow leading to a career producing calendar pin-ups. In later years, he was known for his corporate-commissioned oil portraiture, and watercolor landscapes of Cape Cod, his retirement home.

References

* ''The Great American Pin-Up'', by Charles G. Martignette and Louis K. Meisel,

External links

* WARNING: WorldCat (below) mixes works by multiple Roy Bests, as of September 2018 American illustrators Pin-up artists People from Waverly, Ohio Painters from Ohio 20th-century American painters American male painters 1892 births Year of death missing Section of Painting and Sculpture artists 20th-century American male artists {{US-painter-stub

Biography

See also

References

External links