Painting a Hidden Life: The Art of Bill Traylor
Born a slave in Benton, Ala. in 1853, legendary outsider artist Bill Traylor married twice and fathered over a dozen children before moving to Montgomery alone in 1928 and picking up paints. There, the octogenarian established a corner (literally), and before long, was discovered by (white) Montgomery artist Charles Shannon, who would organize two shows for Traylor and ensure his work's preservation. Traylor was both illiterate and estranged from his entire family, and so what little is known of his thoughts come from Shannon; though his journals contain some telling moments ("'When the ruler touches the nose and the chin but it doesn't touch the lips, it's a white man.' Traylor said, 'If it touches all three, it's a black man.'"), unfortunately there's very little that's conclusive. Sobel's attempt to decode Traylor's iconic paintings is thus an interesting but unsubstantiated look at the artist's societal context and the various cultural symbols he may be invoking. Though Sobel is on point with the basics (Traylor "composed a lengthy, complex, life narrative in over 1,200 pictures") and helps fill a significant hole in American art history, fans of the folk artist won't learn much new.Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.