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Untitled (Woman Walking with Handbag),

Untitled (Two Dogs Fighting),

Untitled (Black Elephant with a Brown Ear),

Traylor’s dynamic use of line is eloquent in the subtle dorsal curve of an elephant. Supple undulations add energy to this portrait of a calm but powerful beast. The repetition of ovals in the bulbous tail tip and feet establishes a rhythm that is interrupted by the color of the dainty oval ear, whose startling […]

Untitled (Exciting Event: House with Figures),

Bustling with commotion, this drawing exemplifies Traylor’s skill at storytelling through revealing gestures. The work’s negative space takes on a character of its own, intensifying the tension of the scene, which is drawn together in a relationship of curving lines. The arcs interact subtly within each figure and correlate the figures with one another. The […]

Untitled (Man in Blue Pants),

Traylor often left preliminary marks in his drawings that reveal both his working method and the structure beneath his forms. In this image of a man in blue pants, Traylor augmented the straight lines of the legs and torso with the curves of the buttocks and midriff. He appears to have drawn the body and […]

Untitled (Figure on Construction with Legs),

Untitled (Cat),

Untitled (Man and Woman),

Between his eighty-fifth and eighty-ninth birthdays, Bill Traylor made more than 1,200 drawings showing the vibrant life he experienced on the streets of Montgomery, Alabama. However, his dynamic artwork did not attract widespread critical acclaim until long after his death. In 1982, the High Museum acquired a group of thirty drawings by Traylor, making […]

Untitled (Exciting Event with Animals),

Untitled (Horse and Rider),