UNTITLED (WOMAN IN A POLKA DOT SKIRT)

Untitled (Woman in a polka dot skirt) 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 (Woman in a polka dot skirt) exhibits classic trademarks of Traylor’s work: the woman’s torso is drawn as a geometric box and her skirt, arms and legs are made with a straightedge, while Traylor uses the body and clothing to experiment with color, pattern and mass. The work is unique and engaging because Traylor treats the torso of the figure as a palette, mixing different tones of brown directly on the card. Traylor draws the viewer in with the eye-catching pattern of the skirt, a stark contrast to the subtle nuances in color in the torso above that creates a dynamic image. Here, Traylor treats the torso as a palette, mixing different tones of brown directly on the card. This practice is unique within Traylor's oeuvre and makes this work an important record of his artistic range. The woman with one hand on her hip, the other in front of her face, strides forward. Traylor creates an innate energy in the figure’s presence not only with her 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.