Lost and Found: Fleury Zilli’s Portraits from the Gobblers’ Club

When Executive Director Jill Kearney first moved to Bucks County, she met a man who told her, “I’m going to tell you something, but please don’t tell anyone else.” That secret eventually led her to a suite of folk art paintings that make up this intimate exhibition. The paintings, by local artist Fleury Zilli, were made from house paint in a single day in 1955 directly on the walls of a jazz club called Gobblers in Point Pleasant, Pa. They depict well-known 1950s crooners and jazz musicians, including Louis Armstrong and Gene Krupa, the great showman and pianist Liberace, and Gobblers’ owner Joe Butera playing his bass. This is the first time they have been available to view since being cut from the walls of the club in 2004.