The Magic of Bill Traylor

While the High Museum's blockbuster MOMA exhibit Picasso to Wharhol is winding down, this spring still offers the chance to enjoy the work of an altogether different master of modern art, Bill Traylor.

Born into slavery in 1854, Traylor settled in Montgomery, Alabama is his later years, eventually supporting himself by selling painting and drawings produced on cardboard he found on the street.  Traylor's work is full of childhood remembrances and plantation life, street scenes around Montgomery and captured moments of observation.

The 60 works on display in the bottom level of the museum (take the stairs behind the main gift shop to avoid the crowds) are culled from the High's own substantial collection and the holdings of the Montgomery Museum of Fine Art.   

 

Traylor is venerated as one of the grand masters of the American Folk Art movement, and like the work of  Howard Finster, his images are simultaneously accessible and profound.  This is a show for kids and connoisseurs alike.

Head to the High before the exhibit closes on May 5. This promo for Bill Traylor: Chasing Ghosts, an upcoming documentary about Taylor's life, is a great preview of many of the works you will enjoy.

Intown Photorealism

Atlanta artist Christina Bray has a great installation of paintings (through March 23) at the Callanwolde Art Center Gallery featuring her take on some favorite Atlanta street scenes, including the venerable Krog Tunnel.

Pop by the Callanwalde center (closed Sunday) to see these fun paintings, then get out and enjoy on of the city's best gardens.

Remembering Helen Frankenthaler

My condolences to the family and friends of artist Helen Frankenthaler, who passed away right after Christmas in her home in Darien, Connecticut at the age of 83.

Encountering Frankenthaler's masterpiece Mountains and Sea at the MOMA in the summer of 1989 was a keystone event in my life.  Returning to the museum as the exhibition was being dismantled, I  had the chance to stand alone in the gallery with the painting, and for the first time experienced a visceral, awe inspiring connection with a work of art.     

Mountains and Sea, 1952 - National Gallery

Here is great video introduction to Frankenthaler and her art.  Art history being what it is, Frankenthaler is often lost in the transition from the revolutionary Abstract Expressionists, including her shaman Jackson Pollack, and the Color Field painters.   Atlantans can experience her work in the painting Sagittarius in the permanent collection of the High Museum.