Kitchen Scene, Yellow House

Bill Traylor was born into slavery in rural Alabama in the mid 1950s. He spent most of life after emancipation working as a sharecropper until he moved, in 1939, to Montgomery and at the age of 85 took up a pencil and scraps of cardboard and began to document his past. Drawing on street corners and selling his wares to passers-by, over the next 3 years he produced nearly 1,500 pieces of art. Like so many outsider artists, Traylor could have remained unknown, and despite having a solo show in 1940, it was not until the late 1970s, some 30 years after his death, that his work began to receive wide attention. Today, Traylor is considered one of the most important 20th century artists in American history, and a leader in the folk art movement. Traylor’s works are unflinching in their depiction of the brutality of his life and American history, yet as works of a self-taught artist, their naivety is able to express raw emotion quite unlike more technical works. Traylor’s works are the only substantial collection of artworks created by someone born into slavery and they serve as a testament to perseverance and a poignant reflection of his country’s history.