Portrait of a Circus Performer - Gouache by Jerry Williamson

Jerry Williamson (1926 - 2016) was active/lived in California, Washington / France. He is known for Portrait painting, street performers, and more.
After being a hair colorist for 10 years working with pigments, travelling the world for Elisabeth Arden, and working for TV stars and theatre performers, he opened in 1950 with a friend a beauty shop that grew into a chain called Beauty Plus.
Jerry closed the shop in 1984 and dedicacted himself fulltime to the painting.
In 1996, he moved to France where he stayed until 2003 to soak up and be part of the art community there. He didn’t speak French but as he said: "Art is hands-on, so language isn’t that necessary.”
Inspired by the “Saltimbanques” of the French circus troupes, Jerry’s haunting and evocative portrait collection explore the faces and personalities of performers he has met over the years. “It’s a power of one unity - we all enjoy art – we are all one community.”
This portrait of a performer features a corail background which highlights the figure of a man, giving the impression that this form has been cut and past back onto the canvas. A black line outlines the oval form of the face, the ear, the thin lips and the diamond shape of the eyes. Although a large part of the expression given to the face is usually linked to the gaze, Williamson proposes a portrait in which the gaze is unclear like a memory of an enigmatic character.
The piece is painted with watercolour and sits in its very nice original frame.

REFERENCE NUMBER: LU825833756922
PERIOD: Late 20th Century
CONDITION: Good
MEASUREMENTS: Height: 21.25" Width: 17" Depth: 0.75"
COUNT: 1
MATERIAL: Acrylic, Paper
CREATOR: Jerry Williamson