Need Help w Painting signed James Thurber

I need help with this because I know virtually nothing about artwork and can't effectively investigate it. So hopefully, someone can help out.

A friend received a painting that was her mother's. Her Aunt acquired it in Florida while working part time during the winter season. The painting is a Florida Scene and the signature says James Thurber.

This doesn't look like something THE James Thurber would have done, but I dunno for sure. I found a signed cartoon on-line and the siggies were a little similar but not 100%. My friend wants to know about value of course, because everyone is telling her James Thurber was very famous. But this artist might be a different person with the same name. I apologize for the poor quality photos. If I need to get better ones, I can but it will take a few days. My friend says the painting measures 9" x 12". Any help would be much appreciated. TY!

 

James Thurber wrote humorous essays and stories and was a cartoonist for the New Yorker magazine. Your picture is not by that James Thurber.

 

It's more in keeping with the "Florida Highwaymen" paintings, but there does not seem to be a James Thurber listed among their number.

 

Thanks, MOS. Is there an on line directory for artists? Or do you think this JT was too small potatoes to be in a directory?

 

I'll look up the Florida Highwaymen since that is a new idea for me. TY!

 

Don't know. It will be a difficult search trying to get past the other Thurber.

 

Maybe look in Florida records for a James Thurber.

 

The Florida Highwaymen were specifically a group of Black American painters. I doubt they had a lock on this kind of view.

 

1960s-1970s from the frame. Anything on the back?

Debora

 

I don't think so but I will check with my friend.

 

The city of Boynton Beach, Florida has in their art collection two portrait paintings dated 1958, said to be by artist James C. Thurber. No information given about that artist. The images are tiny, especially when looking with a phone. One has a scenic background but it's hard to tell if similar to the painting you posted. No artist signature visible. Doesn't seem likely to be the same artist, but you might want to look. They are the first two images in this finding aid/list.
https://www.boynton-beach.org/library/archives-a0092

 

Clever you! Great find. Certainly a possibility. And Boynton Beach narrows it down a bit.

Debora

 

Thanks for embedding the images. Much easier to see now!

I hope that @ola402 can get some clearer images from the owner. The palm trees in the background of the picture of the nun have some things in common with the ones in the original post.

 

Oh, I see the ones in Boynton Beach do have signatures. They are too blurry to make out much, except that the artist apparently had a two-line signature, with first name and initial above the surname. So that looks different. The online ones are too blurry to make out details.

 

Well, here is another oil painting signed James Thurber. This is a mountain lake scene. The signature looks different, but the frame sure is similar.
https://www.k-bid.com/auction/31325/item/153

 

Thanks! You all are the greatest! I will advise my friend that her painting will not pay off her house or even make one house payment, LOL, but it's interesting and she likes scenes that include the ocean and palm trees.