E. J. Perry
Silhouette artist

E. J. Perry

The basics
Quick facts
Intro
Silhouette artist
Gender:
Male
Work field:
Birth:
11 February 1880(Kershaw County, South Carolina, USA)
Death:
2 February 1946(Islip, Suffolk County, New York, USA)
Star sign:
Residences
Harlem, Manhattan, New York City, USA; Coney Island, Brooklyn, New York City, USA
The details
Biography

Essaias James Perry (February 11, 1880 – February 2, 1946), 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. 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, as well as the composer J. Rosamond Johnson.