Bill Taylor, “Mean Dog”, 1939-42, Poster Paint and Pencil on Cardboard, Private Collection

Bill Taylor, “Man and Large Dog”, 1939-42, Poster Paint and Pencil on Cardboard, Private Collection

Bill Taylor, “Black Turkey”, 1939-42, Poster Paint and Pencil on Cardboard, The Lucas Kaempfer Foundation

Born in 1853, Bill Taylor was an African-American self-taught artist from Lowndes County, Alabama. Born into slavery, Traylor spent the majority of his life after emancipation as a sharecropper. It was only after 1939, following his move to Montgomery, Alabama, that Traylor began to draw. At the age of 85, he took up a pencil and a scrap of cardboard to document his recollections and observations. From 1939 to 1942, while working on the sidewalks of Montgomery, Traylor produced nearly 1,500 pieces of art.