Oil painting -> List of Painters -> Bill-Traylor

Bill-Traylor

Early Life: Bill-Traylor Bill Traylor was a self-taught artist born an Alabama slave. Unable to read or write, he first began drawing in 1939 at the age of eighty-three. He worked full-time for the next four years to fabricate over eighteen hundred drawings. He used a straight edge to create geometric silhouettes of human and animal figures which he then filled in with crayon and tempera. He is known for his intriguing use of pattern versus flat color and a remarkably intuitive sense of space.

Career:

He started hanging his works on a nearby fence to entertain the locals. One of his first fans was Charles Shannon, a painter who introduced Traylor to the New South regionalist artists and organized two shows of his work before his death. Since then, Traylor has become one of the most highly sought-after outsider artists.

During the next four years, Traylor created between 1200 and 1500 drawings. In February, 1940, the New South hosted an exhibition of Traylor drawings, and in 1942, the Fieldston School in Riverdale, New York, hosted an exhibition organized by Victor E. D'Amico The shows produced no sales.

During World War II, while Shannon served in the South Pacific, Traylor moved north to live with relatives. Returning to Montgomery in 1945, he lived on the street again until relief workers insisted that he move in with a daughter who lived in Montgomery. A requiem mass was held for Traylor at St. Jude Church after his death October 23, 1949.

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