Does artistic and literary creation have an age limit? At what age does an artist reach their peak creativity? Gogol was finished by the age of 40, which brought him closer to madness. Salinger did not publish any significant work after his forties. Pollock had already reached the height of fame by the age of 44 when he drunkenly drove his car into eternity. Edward Munch created his masterpiece, 'The Scream,' at the age of 30. Younger than him, Thomas Mann was 26 when he produced the monumental 'Buddenbrooks,' a novel recounting the history of four generations of a wealthy German family in the 19th century; and the Iranian artist and writer, Ebrahim Golestan, with his rich prose and beautiful storytelling in 'Juy and Divar and Teshneh' and 'Moods and Tides,' gained all his literary and artistic credibility in his fifties, after which everything else was more marginal.
In a realm where even prodigies and geniuses often reach their end too soon, and it is well-known that an artist must reach their peak by middle age, can one start several decades later and still carve out a place in history? Is that overly optimistic? It resembles those magazine and newspaper stories that want to convey that it is never too late for success, injecting adrenaline into tired and worn-out bodies to give them a jolt, a surge of excitement and hope that usually does not last long. No, it was something different from the desire for success and fame that compelled the elderly Bill Traylor in 1939 to take up a pencil on the streets of Montgomery, Alabama, and draw those mysterious shapes on cardboard. 'It just happened all of a sudden,' Traylor lived for about a century, from 1853 to 1949, but it was only at the age of 86 that he turned to art and began painting spontaneously and self-taught. However, the story is not just this; it is the quality of his long and arduous life and the creative reflection of all those social-political periods in America and the sufferings and fears of an African-American that makes Traylor 'one of the important artists of the 20th century in America.' Joseph Helfenstein, an art critic, calls Traylor's paintings an example of 'radical modernity.' Michal Sabel, a professor of American Studies at the University of Haifa, also writes that viewing his works 'reminds one of the paintings left from ancient times in caves, Africa, and Picasso's canvases.' More astonishing is that he was able to create works without being literate, which someone like Joseph Helfenstein, an art critic and former director of museums in America and Europe, called an example of 'radical modernity.' Michal Sabel also notes that viewing Traylor's works 'recalls the paintings left from ancient times in caves, Africa, and Picasso's canvases.' Even more astonishing is that Traylor was homeless and sat on a wooden box on Monroe Street, drawing on discarded cardboard, 'simple drawings of a cat, a cup, a shoe, a basket,' but these drawings gradually became more complex, depicting human and animal faces.
No, it was something different from the desire for success and fame that compelled the elderly Bill Traylor in 1939 to take up a pencil on the streets of Montgomery, Alabama, and draw those mysterious shapes on cardboard.
Bill Traylor lived for about a century, from 1853 to 1949, but it was only at the age of 86 that he turned to art and began painting spontaneously and self-taught. However, the story is not just this; it is the quality of his long and arduous life and the creative reflection of all those social-political periods in America and the sufferings and fears of an African-American that makes Traylor 'one of the important artists of the 20th century in America.'
Joseph Helfenstein, an art critic, calls Traylor's paintings an example of 'radical modernity.' Michal Sabel, a professor of American Studies at the University of Haifa, also writes that viewing his works 'reminds one of the paintings left from ancient times in caves, Africa, and Picasso's canvases.'
More astonishing is that he was able to create works without being literate, which someone like Joseph Helfenstein, an art critic and former director of museums in America and Europe, called an example of 'radical modernity.' Michal Sabel also notes that viewing Traylor's works 'recalls the paintings left from ancient times in caves, Africa, and Picasso's canvases.' Traylor was homeless and sat on a wooden box on Monroe Street, drawing on discarded cardboard, 'simple drawings of a cat, a cup, a shoe, a basket,' but these drawings gradually became more complex, depicting human and animal faces.
The Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington is currently showcasing 155 examples of Traylor's most important paintings and drawings. The exhibition is titled 'Intersection of Worlds,' referring to Bill Traylor's life experience in the 19th and 20th centuries, a black man born in the southern United States (Alabama) during slavery. Traylor was a slave until the age of twelve, living and working on a farm, and even after the North's victory over the South and the emancipation of slaves, he remained on that farm until 1935, when his wife died and his children had each gone to different corners of America. It was then that he left the farm and village and headed to the capital city of Alabama.
Dan Tait describes the elderly man's struggles to find stable work in Montgomery in his short book 'It Just Happened All of a Sudden,' which ultimately led him to homelessness on the street. The title of the book is borrowed from Bill Traylor's words when he was asked how he became an artist at his age, to which he replied, 'It just happened all of a sudden. It suddenly came to my mind.' Thus, Bill Traylor breathed new life into what he had lived through all these years and internalized with simple lines, paintings that seem easy yet are complex, emerging from the experiences of a man who 'witnessed significantly different historical periods: slavery, the Civil War, the emancipation of slaves, the reconstruction of the country, the segregation of blacks from the dominant society, large migrations from the southern states to the developed northern states, and the growth of African-American marginal culture in the southern states.'
Michal Sabel describes Bill Traylor's works as a form of autobiography, paintings that reflect both his joys and sorrows, showing his anger and outcry for justice. Dan Tait also somewhat confirms this perspective. However, what shapes the narrative language of these stories are the symbols that Traylor extensively utilizes. Part of the 'Intersection of Worlds' exhibition consists of paintings that evoke the concept of 'balance,' depicting a person (usually a man or boy) precariously standing on a narrow surface (often a tree) and swaying between earth and air, a sign of life's instability and standing on the edge of a precipice throughout one's life.
Sabel discovers a theme that might provide another clue about these paintings. While writing his book, he hears from Traylor's grandson that the grandfather believed the Birmingham, Alabama police who killed his son in 1929 had actually hanged him without trial. Sabel states that the emotional blow from this event drove Traylor toward painting to find a voice to shout his anger and rage. But can the images of men searching for solid footing in the middle of the earth and air specifically evoke this event? The symbolism of Traylor's work.
Part of the 'Intersection of Worlds' exhibition consists of paintings that evoke the concept of 'balance,' depicting a person (usually a man or boy) precariously standing on a narrow surface (often a tree) and swaying between earth and air, a sign of life's instability and standing on the edge of a precipice throughout one's life.
Sabel touches on a topic that history corroborates regarding the symbolism of Traylor's paintings. During the era of segregation from the dominant society, black people could still not express their independent thoughts and criticisms aloud, lest they pay a heavy price. Hence, Traylor resorted to using symbols that the black community extensively utilized. For instance, sexual concerns and experiences are among the issues that Traylor inevitably addresses indirectly. Some of his works have strong sexual implications associated with images like snakes (a symbol of sexual power and fertility) or columns (a symbol of the male organ) and rods. One of the most thought-provoking of these works is the painting 'Man Under the Weight of a Structure,' which can be interpreted as a representation of a woman's body; the curves of the woman's midsection are depicted with simple curved lines. Her spine takes on a tree-like form, symbolizing fertility, and that red composite design with a hole in it embodies the female organ and menstruation.
Traylor did not achieve fame in the few remaining years of his life, although at that time, with the help of Charles Shannon, he managed to hold an exhibition of his works in New York (1942), but it was only four decades later that he was 'discovered,' and again it was Charles Shannon who rescued Traylor and his paintings from the depths of historical oblivion, a young white artist who helped Traylor during those years and managed to preserve his paintings. 'The Art of Black Americans: 1930-1980' was the title of an exhibition held in Washington in 1982, where 36 works by Bill Traylor were displayed alongside those of several other artists for public judgment; a beginning for his fame. The exhibition presented an image of African-American culture, just as Traylor reflects in his paintings the history of these people, their way of life, and their beliefs and customs.
Animals in Traylor's paintings do not appear friendly. Although he was born in a rural area and perhaps should have had a friendlier relationship with animals, especially dogs in many of his works have a terrifying appearance that could evoke the hunting of slaves and blacks during the darkest periods of American history. One of these paintings depicts a gigantic dog with sharpened teeth ready to bite, controlled by a white man. But the key to understanding Traylor's paintings lies in the culture of the 'blues,' a culture that emerged in the late 19th century in the fields of the southern United States among blacks and became a lasting musical form. The blues reflects 'the deep social, cultural, and economic duality between the owning class and the black working class' in America at that time, the duality of master-slave, dominant-subordinate, oppressor-oppressed.
But the key to understanding Traylor's paintings lies in the culture of the 'blues,' a culture that emerged in the late 19th century in the fields of the southern United States among blacks and became a lasting musical form. The blues reflects 'the deep social, cultural, and economic duality between the owning class and the black working class' in America at that time, the duality of master-slave, dominant-subordinate, oppressor-oppressed.
Many songs of this style express the violations of whites against the lives and rights of blacks, embodying suffering and sorrow.