A portrait of a man holding a flower wears a brown cap and matching brown jacket under a stripe…

Jerry

Datec. 1942

MediumOil on canvas

DimensionsCanvas: 30 1/8 × 25 inches (76.5 × 63.5 cm)
Framed: 35 13/16 × 30 13/16 × 1 1/4 inches (91 × 78.3 × 3.2 cm)

Credit LineGift of Mrs. Stella Henderson on behalf of Emma Cheves Wilkins.

Object number1974.2

On View

Not on view

Copyright© Estate of Emma Cheves Wilkins. The images and text contained on this page are owned by Telfair Museums or used by the Museum with permission from the owners. Unauthorized reproduction, transmission or display of these materials is prohibited with the exception of items deemed “fair use” as defined by U.S. and international copyright laws.Label TextThe subject of this portrait is Jerry Dickerson, who served as the janitor and unofficial tour guide of the Telfair Academy from 1920 until about 1942. He is portrayed here in his work clothes by Savannah artist Emma Cheves Wilkins, a Savannah native who received her earliest training at the Telfair Academy under its first director, Carl Brandt. The brushwork of this informal, familiar portrait is loose and expressive, standing in contrast to the tighter and more formal style of Wilkins’s commissioned portraits.

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