KENNERLY

20 x 25 cm colour print. Suitable for framing. In good condition, with a few light dinks. Head and shoulders shot of Ford in jacket and tie, standing in front of an American flag, arms folded and with his trademark toothy smile. Large signature ‘Gerald R. Ford’ on a white stripe of the flag, downwards and slightly over Ford’s right shoulder. It was Lyndon Johnson who said of the subject of this photograph: ‘Jerry Ford is so dumb he can’t fart and chew gum at the same time’ (the word ‘fart’ being altered by the press to ‘walk’). See image.

The name of the recipient is not clear: it would appear to read 'Wriggles', and the letter suggests that this is a pet name for Melchers' close friend Henriette Lewis-Hind, who wrote the foreword to 'Gari Melchers, Painter', published that same year in New York by W. E. Rudge. An excellent letter, full of content, beginning: 'My dear [Wriggles?]. | We only returned from the West Indies a week or two ago – had a fine time'.