Man/Woman, Green Blouse, Blue Shirt

After a lifetime on a plantation, former slave Bill Traylor moved to Montgomery, Alabama. There, from a doorstep on Monroe Street, he composed starkly modernist images of lively animals, vibrant landscapes and active people. The dynamic, interacting figures in this oversized, compelling work are rendered in the artist’s signature style. The bold, rectilinear underdrawings that form the characters’ torsos anchor the figures on the card while the swathes of colored pencil flesh out the bodies and clothes, providing personality and dynamism.

The artist's multi-figure compositions are among his most sought-after works, as they reveal Traylor’s observations of the world around him and of human dynamics. Here, a well-dressed man and woman are in heated discussion. She towers over him, holding her space, while he gesticulates, vying for her attention.