UNTITLED (POINTING MAN IN HAT AND SPOTTED SHIRT)

Untitled (Pointing man in hat and spotted shirt) is an exceptional work, revealing Bill Traylor’s mastery over space, his subject matter and his media. Traylor was born into slavery in circa 1853 and most likely did not begin drawing until he was in his eighties while living in Montgomery, Alabama. This work was made between 1939 and 1942, a brief period during which Traylor executed his extant drawings and paintings on cardboard. Untitled (Pointing man in hat and spotted shirt) exhibits classic trademarks of Traylor’s work: the man's torso is drawn as a geometric box and his pants, arms, legs and his face are made with a straightedge, while Traylor uses the body and clothing to experiment with color, pattern and mass. Traylor draws the viewer in with the eye-catching pattern of the shirt, a stark contrast to the subtle nuances in color in the pants and the hat above, to create a dynamic image. The man, with one hand on his hip, the other in front of his face pointing upwards, strides forward. Traylor creates an innate energy in the figure’s presence not only with his active stance, but in the way he embraces the parameters of his space by almost entirely filling the card to impart the presence of authority. A string at the center of the upper edge infers a previous display, possibly hung up by Traylor himself in his space.