BILL TRAYLOR

BILL TRAYLOR 1854-1949

Bill Traylor photo taken by Charles Shannon around 1939 in Montgomery, Alabama.

Bill Traylor spent most of his life working as a sharecropper on the plantation where he was born into slavery in Benton, Alabama.  Bill left the farm and the only life he had ever known at the age of 82 and made his way to Montgomery.  Before long he took up residence on a stoop near a blacksmith's shop on Monroe Avenue and began creating his drawings.  In 1939 a young painter by the name of Charles Shannon met Mr. Traylor and was immediately taken by his artwork.  Soon after Charles Shannon began supplying Bill with colored pencils, poster paint and artists board.  Bill also created his images on discarded pieces of cardboard he found.  He created around 1,200 works of art in a period of 3 years while in Montgomery.  Bill Traylor died in 1949 before the world recognized his genius. Today Bill Traylor is considered one of America's great artists.  Rightfully so.

My favorite book about Bill Traylor is "Deep Blues", by Josef Helfenstein and Roman Kurzmeyer.  The image above 'Female Drinker' is on the book cover.  

If you love 'outsider' art,(or just art) Bill Traylor is the artist you should study.  He opened the door for all those who followed.  Mose Tolliver, from the one conversation I had with him, told me when he was a young man he remembered seeing Bill drawing from his stoop on Monroe Street. Pretty cool stuff. History brought to life.

Other books about Bill Traylor are:

Bill Traylor, Drawings from the Collections of the High Museum of Art and the Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts.

It Jes Happened: When Bill Traylor Started to Draw/  this is an illustrated children's book by Don Tate and R.Gregory Christie.

Bill Traylor: His Art, His Life/ by Frank Maresca

Check these out too while you're at it:

 http://www.billtraylorchasingghosts.com/

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JnhAMuCOisw&feature=player_detailpage

There's a lot more out there about him.  And, good luck affording his art.


dave