Artist Coby Whitmore perfectly captured the spirit of the 1950s with fashionable couples, dramatic embraces, and sidelong glances.
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Featured Image: Illustration by Coby Whitmore (©SEPS)
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Comments
A very fascinating look at a great Post illustrator most people probably aren’t familiar with. Coby Whitmore had such varied artistic styles, you’d almost swear they had to have been done by different artists; but they weren’t. The picture at 2:00 has a look to it that almost reminds me of Bob Peak (not a Post illustrator).
I’m glad you brought up the fact that the American ’50s relentless pursuit of perfection came after 15 years of very, very hard times with the Depression, then World War II. Tomorrow is the 90th anniversary of ‘The Crash’ (which was also a Tuesday.) After World War II, America was on top of the world to a large extent because so much of the rest of it was in ruin.
For a little over a quarter century (1946-’72) we had a tremendous economy where the average American could do pretty well, have the good life too, even if on a more modest scale than the wealthy. It wasn’t sustainable of course, and didn’t last. By 1973 that yellow brick road began turning into the economic dark desert highway we’ve been on ever since!