Page 31 - JOA-2-22

By Susan Baerwald
n the history of early American culture, training or exposure to art, to pick up a pencil
there is little specific mention of African Man with Stick and a straight-edged stick and start drawing
IAmerican Art. We are aware of some of the figures on discarded cardboard in the spring of
early quilts by Harriet Powers, some walking 1939. What is even more amazing is that,
sticks carved by anonymous African American from that point, he rarely stopped drawing for
artists, and dolls made by women in their the next three years, creating an incredible
images for their children to play with. The few body of work, estimated at 1,200-1,600 pieces.
pieces we knew were termed “folk art,” or art of His routine was the same each day: after
the people, which reflected their way of life. sleeping on a pallet among the caskets at the
But an entire world of African American art Ross Clayton Funeral Parlor in Montgomery,
has emerged that was present in the South — Alabama, Bill Traylor situated himself on a
localized and largely unknown to the historians box outside on Monroe Street, sandwiched in
of art until the late twentieth century. This between a Coca-Cola dispensing machine and
included vernacular pieces by artists who had a pool hall. An imposing, bearded, heavy-set
little or no exposure to the art world. It was not man nearly six-foot-four inches tall, he
until the seminal show mounted by The maneuvered with two canes due to his
Corcoran Gallery in Washington in 1982 rheumatism. Once seated, he pulled a crude
entitled “Black Folk Art in America, 1930- board on his lap and started to draw,
1980,” that we heard their names and learned attracting spectators and children from the
about them. William Edmonson, Thornton neighborhood, with whom he chatted
Dial, William Hawkins, Elijah Pierce, Jesse “... what could have motivated an occasionally. At some point, Traylor hung the
Aaron, David Butler, Sam Doyle, and more. pictures he created on an adjacent fence by
Twenty black artists were profiled, and 391 83-year-old man, born into slavery, looping pieces of string through the tops of
works were presented that had been previously the drawings.
unknown to the contemporary art world. The who could not read or write and had His early drawings consisted of spare
catalog of the exhibit by Jane Livingston and no training or exposure to art, to pick pencil silhouettes drawn with straight edges
James Beardsley is out of print but can be found which he outlined and then filled in with
in libraries and museums. up a pencil and a straight-edged stick pencil strokes. The images were probably from
Many of these artists have come to be prized and start drawing figures on discarded Traylor’s memory. Simply placed, the images
and collected by museums throughout the were arresting, the forms distinct, and the use
country, although they have not yet achieved cardboard in the spring of 1939.” of space on the discarded cardboard pieces he
recognition outside the narrow categories of used as a background was eye-catching.
“self-taught,” “naïve,” “visionary,” “vernacular,” As his work became more defined and
or “outsider” labels. Traylor plantation in Benton, Alabama in influenced by the vivid street life he observed
The artist whose sinuous snake was featured 1856, Traylor took on the surname of his in Montgomery, he attracted the attention of a
on the cover of the catalog, and who had 36 master, as did his parents, according to the young WPA artist, Charles Shannon, whose
works in the exhibit has emerged as an artist for 1900 census. We don’t know much about the
whom no labels are necessary, and he is Bill young Bill Traylor except that he remained on
Traylor. His art is extraordinary, and he has the plantation after the Civil War ended and
come to be known as one of the most important continued to work as a farmhand until at least
artists discovered in the twentieth century. 1937. During that time, he fathered at least
Bill Traylor had an incredible visual twenty children with several wives. By the time
imagination that did not become evident until Bill Traylor set out on his own in his early
late in life. Born a slave on the George Hartwell eighties, the children had all moved away, and
his original wife, Lorissa, had died. He may
have worked on a road gang, in construction,
and then in a shoe factory. In 1939, he was
homeless and received a stipend from a Bill Traylor surrounded by his work.
government welfare program. Physical Photo: ArtDaily.org
limitations caused by acute rheumatism
prevented him from working, but he found his eight-year association with Traylor would even-
way to Montgomery and made a few friends tually introduce the former slave’s artwork to
there who helped look after him. the outside world. Shannon recognized the
It is a mystery as to what could have power of Traylor’s images and was intrigued by
motivated an 83-year-old man, born into the strong geometric shapes that portrayed so
slavery, who could not read or write and had no much movement and life. Traylor’s simplicity

“Bill Traylor’s works are completely uninfluenced by our
Western culture. Strictly in the folk idiom – they are as
Bird on Triangular Construction
unselfconscious and spontaneous as Negro spirituals.”

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