Two Men on a Pedestal

DateProbably 1939-1942

Artist Bill Traylor (1852/6-1949)

OriginAmerica, Alabama, Montgomery (probably)

MediumGouache and graphite on cardboard

DimensionsPrimary Support: 22 x 14in. (55.9 x 35.6cm) and Framed: 27 x 19in.

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number1983.201.1

DescriptionTwo figures of top-hatted men stand atop a pedestal supported by a tripod on a flat, horizontal base. The men face one another and appear to be having an animated conversation or argument, their legs spread apart and their arms either raised or held away from their bodies. At the base of the tripod, a dog-like animal stands nearly upright, with its forefeet against the side of one of the tripod legs, its mouth open, looking upwards at the men. The figures of the men and animal are all solidly toned, the men and stand in reddish-brown watercolor wash, the animal in graphite, except for circular eyeholes centering dots, i.e., irises. An inscription is at top center. The background is left blank.

The frame is a modern addition, a 1-inch, half-round molded wood frame stained dark brown.
Label TextBill Traylor was born a slave on a plantation near Benton, Alabama and, after emancipation, remained on the property of his former master, George Traylor (from whom the artist took his surname). In 1938, he moved to Montgomery and began producing paintings and drawings, eventually creating some 1,500 to 1,800 artworks.

Traylor's extraordinary body of work is both abstract and figurative. His innate sense of form and placement and his concise conveyance of mood imbue his paintings and drawings with clarity, wit, and grace.
InscribedIn graphite in script at top center is "Bill Traylor."
ProvenanceFrom the artist to Charles Shannon, Montgomery, Alabama; to CWF's source, The Luise Ross Gallery, New York, NY.