Jerry the Policeman c. 1937

This is Dorothy Harris’s Jerry the Policeman, a watercolor on paper. Look at how the blue seeps and bleeds into the paper, creating an ethereal presence for Jerry. Dorothy has captured him mid-stride; his arms are out, his face ruddy, and he seems very focused on patrolling his beat. What was she thinking as she painted him? Was it a quick sketch, or did she labor over the details of his uniform? The artist really captured a sense of character in his face. I feel like I know him. The watery quality of the paint gives the image a dreamlike feeling. I'm reminded of other watercolorists like Henry Darger or even Marsden Hartley, who embraced the fluidity of the medium to convey emotion and memory. There's a sense of playfulness, too, an ongoing back-and-forth between Harris and the image itself. It’s like she's inviting us to participate in the act of seeing, to co-create meaning. She's showing us that painting can be a way of thinking, a way of feeling, and a way of being in the world.