Last weekend to see 'Bill Traylor' at the Smithsonian

Bill Traylor, Self-Portrait With Pipe, 1939-1942; pencil and colored pencil on cardboard, collection of Siri von Reis

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For those who haven't reached their "pinnacle" or are still searching for it, take heart and learn from a pro, a master, artist Bill Traylor (c.1853-1949) who started his renowned life's work when he was only 86.  (There is hope.) 

Then he started drawing and painting, and now, a quick web search find his works commanding prices from $25,000 to almost $400,000, the fee Christie's reported in January that a buyer paid for Woman Pointing at Man with Cane.
 

Expect prices to climb.

 Bill Traylor, Female Drinker, 1939-1942; gouache and pencil on cardboard, Metropolitan Museum of Art

Mr. Traylor may be the only known artist who was formerly a slave and an illiterate to see an exhibition of his work while he was alive, a show which was assembled by a white artist captivated by Mr. Traylor whom he found drawing on the streets of Montgomery, Alabama. (Although the exhibition included 100 works, none sold.)

Formerly labeled "outsider" or primitive art, the new definition calls Mr. Traylor's, "modern."  Self-taught, Mr. Traylor lived most of his life as a slave and laborer in Alabama where he was born.

 Bill Traylor, Untitled (Woman With Umbrella and Man on Crutch), 1939; pencil and opaque watercolor on paperboard, Smithsonian American Art Museum.

When he was about 12 (his birth year is uncertain), he and family members, with about four million of their brothers and sisters, were freed by the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution which abolished slavery.

Mr. Traylor spent the next 45 years as a laborer.

 Bill Traylor, Untitled (Smoking Man With Figured Construction), 1939-1942; poster paint, crayon, and graphite on cardboard, High Museum, Atlanta

In his mid-70s he moved to Montgomery where he resided on streets, in businesses, and in funeral homes in-between visiting relatives in other states and places until his death.

A few years earlier found him on the sidewalks of Montgomery and later, in his daughter's backyard, drawing and drawing, using recycled materials and pencil, charcoal and watercolors, to make thousands of works, to attract the attention of Charles Shannon who befriended him and began supporting the budding artist with art materials.

Bill Traylor, Cedar Trees, 1939-40; compressed charcoal on cardboard, collection of Dame Jillian Sackler

Traylor's subjects stemmed from his background on the plantation and the sights and sounds he saw from his art perch in Montgomery.

Distinctive stick figures, usually in one or two colors, mark the works, many, reminiscent of Egyptian hieroglyphs and cave art. His rich background provided a springboard to pictures of animals, dogs, snakes, dancers, handicapped individuals in dark silhouettes on flat, one-color, plain landscapes.

 Bill Traylor, Untitled (Radio) 1940-42; opaque watercolor and pencil on printed advertising paperboard,  Smithsonian American Art Museum. An example of Mr. Traylor's usage of discarded cardboard and box tops.  He recycled as an artist long before it became a popular medium.


In 1942 Mr. Traylor's works went on exhibition in New York where Alfred Barr, the director of the Museum of Modern Art, offered $1 to $2 a piece for them. Denied. No museum or person bought any.

But it took the now defunct Corcoran Gallery in Washington and its 1982 exhibition, Black Folk Art in America, 1930-1980 to whet interest in Mr. Traylor's depictions and fly away, they started.

Bill Traylor, Untitled (Yellow and Blue House with Figures and Dog), July, 1939; colored pencil on paperboard, Smithsonian American Art Museum.  The label copy says Mr. Traylor's seven decades on a plantation served as inspiration for his house scenes.  Ladders to the roof were safety features in case of fire. The figure in the chair on the bottom holds a rifle.

Bill Traylor, Untitled (Man, Woman, and Dog), 1939; crayon and pencil on paperboard, Smithsonian American Art Museum. The label copy mentions dancing couples "with wild abandon" often seen in "jook"joints near Traylor's artist's station in Montgomery. Like then, like now, "elders" frowned upon suggestive dancing, considered by some to be the work of the devil and a preface to notorious behavior. Is that their hair or halos on their heads? Is the woman pregnant? The dog has a good time, too. Viewers can "hear" the music!

Bill Traylor about 1939 by Jean and George Lewis, courtesy of Caroline Cargo Folk Art Collection, Cazenovia, NY

The white artists' collective, New South, founded by Charles Shannon who organized the first Traylor exhibition: Bill Traylor, People's Artist, 1940; photograph by Jean and George Lewis, courtesy of Caroline Cargo Folk Art Collection, Cazenovia, NY 

Through Sunday, 155 of Mr. Traylor's works will be on display at the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the first retrospective for an artist born into slavery.

 
In a "hot list" of outsider art published last December at Christie's, art specialist Cara Zimmerman listed Mr. Traylor’s works second.

Not one of Mr. Traylor's 15 to 20 offspring (estimates vary about the number of children he had) were left any of their father's art.

Leslie Umberger, the Smithsonian curator, spent seven years researching the show, according to an article in the Smithsonian, and it shows.  When you see an exhibition like this and understand a little about the artist, you rejoice in his achievements and wish he were still around to receive the accolades.

 

What:  Between Worlds:  The Art of Bill Traylor

When: Closes Sunday, April 7, 2019. The museum is open from 11:30 a.m. - 7 p.m. every day.

Where: Smithsonian American Art Museum, 8th and F streets, N. W., Washington, D.C. 20004

How much: No charge

For more information: 202-633-1000 or visit the website.

Metro station: Gallery Place-Chinatown or walk 10 minutes from Metro Center

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