Bill Traylor, American, 1854 to 1947, two oil pastel paintings on cardboard depicting Folk art genre scenes. Signed lower right and left. Both are framed. William Traylor was an African American self taught artist from Lowndes County, Alabama. 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, he produced nearly 1 500 pieces of art. While Traylor received his first public exhibition in 1940, it was not until 30 years after his death that his work finally began to receive broader attention, in the late 1970s. Recent acceptance of Traylor as a significant figure of American folk and modern art has been founded on the efforts of Charles Shannon, as well as the evolving tastes of the art world. Traylor now holds a central position in the fields of self taught and modern art. One of a kind artwork.