WEIMER PURSELL (1906-1974) NATIONAL HOTEL WEEK. 1942. 23 3/4x18 1/4 inches, 59x46 1/2 cm. L.I.P. & B.A., New York. Condition B+: creases, abrasions and light staining in margins and image. Born in Tennessee, Pursell had no artistic training until the late-1920s when he moved to Chicago and enrolled at the city's prestigious Art Institute. He financed the completion of his studies through his work as a package designer and billboard artist. He became a successful freelance illustrator for many of the most well-known American magazines such as Life, Redbook, Town & Country, Forbes and Newsweek. He also designed posters for the 1933 Chicago World's Fair and some of the country's largest companies, including American Airlines, Winchester Rifles and Coca-Cola. National Hotel Week was a marketing and promotional campaign first held in 1939 as a "nation-wide effort to publicly acknowledge the significance and position of prominence of hotels in any community" (Gettysburg Times, June 14, 1939).
