E._J._Perry

E. J. Perry

E. J. Perry

American silhouettist


Essaias James Perry (February 11, 1880 – February 2, 1946),[1] or more commonly E. J. Perry, was an early-twentieth-century silhouette artist based in New York City. His decades-long activity was mostly associated with the city's Luna Park and Dreamland amusement parks at Coney Island, however it also included private resorts in Florida, and at least two known cultural expositions around the United States.[2][1] He was an African American originally from Kershaw County, South Carolina, and mainly lived and worked in the city's Black neighborhoods of San Juan Hill and Harlem. He did a number of silhouette portraits of eminent people, including the writer H. P. Lovecraft, which appears on the memorial plaque for that author in Providence, Rhode Island,[2][1] as well as the composer J. Rosamond Johnson.[2]

Portrait of E. J. Perry and his eisel

Quick Facts Born, Died ...

References

  1. Baptiste, Kaara; Washington, Eric K. (May 20, 2016). "Oral History Archive / Eric K. Washington: Historian delves into the life of E.J. Perry, African-American silhouette artist at Luna Park". Coney Island History Project. Archived from the original on July 9, 2021.
  2. Washington, Eric K. (December 17, 2013). "E.J. Perry, African-American Silhouette Cutter of America's Leisure Circuit". The Gotham Center for New York City History. Archived from the original on July 9, 2021.

Share this article:

This article uses material from the Wikipedia article E._J._Perry, and is written by contributors. Text is available under a CC BY-SA 4.0 International License; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.