Bill Traylor
- Introduction
- William Traylor (April 1, c. 1853 – October 23, 1949) was an African-American self-taught artist from Lowndes County, Alabama. Born into slavery, Traylor spent the majority of his life after emancipation as a sharecropper. It was only after 1939, following his move to Montgomery, Alabama, that Traylor began to draw. At the age of 85, he took up a pencil and a scrap of cardboard to document his recollections and observations. From 1939 to 1942, while working on the sidewalks of Montgomery, he produced nearly 1,500 pieces of art. While Traylor received his first public exhibition in 1940, it was not until 30 years after his death that his work finally began to receive broader attention, in the late 1970s. Recent acceptance of Traylor as a significant figure of American folk and modern art has been founded on the efforts of Charles Shannon, as well as the evolving tastes of the art world. Shannon, who first encountered Traylor's work in 1940, brought Traylor to the attention of the larger art world. Since then, public and scholarly perception of Traylor's life and work has been in constant evolution. Traylor now holds a central position in the fields of "self-taught" and modern art.
- Wikidata
- Q862623
- Introduction
- Born a slave in Benton, Alabama, ca.1854, Bill Traylor worked as a farmhand for his former owner after he was emancipated. In 1939, Traylor began producing art at the age of 85. His work heavily featured geometric shapes and animal figures, and he produced art until his death in 1947.
- Nationalities
- American, African American
- Gender
- Male
- Roles
- Artist, Naive Artist, Painter
- Name
- Bill Traylor
- Ulan
- 500081799
Exhibitions
-
521: Masters of Popular Painting
Ongoing
MoMA
Collection gallery
-
The Modern Myth: Drawing Mythologies in Modern Times
Mar 10–Aug 30, 2010
MoMA
-
Wunderkammer: A Century of Curiosities
Jul 30–Nov 10, 2008
MoMA
-
Glossolalia: Languages of Drawing
Mar 26–Jul 7, 2008
MoMA
-
Drawing from the Modern, 1880 - 1945
Nov 20, 2004–Mar 7, 2005
MoMA
-
Bill Traylor has
8 exhibitionsonline.
-
Bill Traylor Spotted Sow 1940
-
Bill Traylor Yellow Chicken c. 1939–40
-
Bill Traylor Big Man Walking 1940
-
Bill Traylor Arched Drinker c. 1939–42
-
Bill Traylor Blue Snake c. 1939–42
-
Bill Traylor Fat Man in Blue c. 1939–42
-
Bill Traylor Figure Construction (Woman and Man with Axe) c. 1939–42
-
Bill Traylor Figures on Blue Construction c. 1939–42
-
Bill Traylor Man on Triangle Reaching for Bottle c. 1939–42
-
Bill Traylor Owls in Tree/Shoeing Mule c. 1939
-
Bill Traylor Untitled (Black Horse) c. 1939–42
-
Bill Traylor Untitled (Orange Horse) c. 1939–42
If you would like to reproduce an image of a work of art in MoMA’s collection, or an image of a MoMA publication or archival material (including installation views, checklists, and press releases), please contact Art Resource (publication in North America) or Scala Archives (publication in all other geographic locations).
All requests to license audio or video footage produced by MoMA should be addressed to Scala Archives at [email protected]. Motion picture film stills or motion picture footage from films in MoMA’s Film Collection cannot be licensed by MoMA/Scala. For licensing motion picture film footage it is advised to apply directly to the copyright holders. For access to motion picture film stills please contact the Film Study Center. More information is also available about the film collection and the Circulating Film and Video Library.
If you would like to reproduce text from a MoMA publication, please email [email protected]. If you would like to publish text from MoMA’s archival materials, please fill out this permission form and send to [email protected].
This record is a work in progress. If you have additional information or spotted an error, please send feedback to [email protected].