TAG General Meeting

William O. Golding: Artist, Sailor, and Witness to History Speaker: Harry DeLorme, Senior Curator of Education

On February 8 TAG will welcome the Telfair Academy’s Senior Curator Harry DeLorme to share his excitement about the recently acquired, rare collection of works by William O. Golding (1874-1943). Golding was an African American sailor who made drawings of his 49 years at sea while a patient in Savannah’s marine hospital in the 1930s. Golding’s work includes drawings of sail and steam vessels, among them whaling ships, warships and the steam yachts of New York’s elite. Some of his drawings portray naval vessels reflecting his service during the Spanish American War era. Others depict ports of call from Savannah to the Rock of Gibraltar, China and Tahiti. The Telfair is organizing the largest exhibition to date of Golding’s work which will open in February 2022.

Harry DeLorme has over 30 years’ experience in museums as curator, educator and visual artist. DeLorme currently oversees Telfair Museums’ education department, and with the education staff organizes programs and resources for audiences of all ages, including lectures, family days, school and outreach programs. He holds BFA and MFA degrees in Drawing and Painting from the University of Georgia, Athens, where he began his museum career at the Georgia Museum of Art. The first US solo exhibition of the Caribbean new media artist David Gumbs was recently curated by DeLorme opening at the Jepson Center January 28, 2021. Exhibitions devoted to self-taught artists, and to art created in Savannah’s history, including the exhibition Bonaventure: A Historic Cemetery in Art in 2018 have been curated by DeLorme. He has written for publications and catalogs and exhibited his work at local, national and international venues.