Roy Best was an American illustrator and painter of

pin-up girl A pin-up model (known as a pin-up girl for a female and less commonly male pin-up for a male) is a model whose mass-produced pictures see widespread appeal as part of popular culture. Pin-up models were variously glamour models, fashion models ...

s. He was born in

Waverly, Ohio Waverly (sometimes known as Waverly City) is a city in, and the county seat of, Pike County, Ohio, United States, located 14 miles south of Chillicothe. The population was 4,165 at the 2020 census. The town was formed in 1829, as the construct ...

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 that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

construction crew to support himself. He later enrolled in the

Art Institute of Chicago The Art Institute of Chicago in Chicago's Grant Park, founded in 1879, is one of the oldest and largest art museums in the world. Recognized for its curatorial efforts and popularity among visitors, the museum hosts approximately 1.5 mill ...

. Later, Best was represented in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

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

The Saturday Evening Post ''The Saturday Evening Post'' is an American magazine, currently published six times a year. It was issued weekly under this title from 1897 until 1963, then every two weeks until 1969. From the 1920s to the 1960s, it was one of the most widely c ...

''. 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 succ ...

's play ''

Peter Pan Peter Pan is a fictional character created by List of Scottish novelists, Scottish novelist and playwright J. M. Barrie. A free-spirited and mischievous young boy who can fly and Puer aeternus, never grows up, Peter Pan spends his never-ending ...

''; an illustration from this project was the basis for the

Peter Pan Bus Lines Peter Pan Bus Lines operates an intercity bus service in the Northeastern United States. It is headquartered in Springfield, Massachusetts. It operates service to/from to Connecticut, the District of Columbia, Massachusetts, Maryland, New Hamps ...

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 The Treasury Section of Painting and Sculpture was a New Deal art project established on October 16, 1934, and administered by the Procurement Division of the United States Department of the Treasury. Commonly known as the Section, it was rena ...

to paint a post office mural, ''Arrival of Packet'', in his hometown of

. That same year he was hired by Brown and 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

See also

References

External links