HOUSTON, TX.-The Menil Collection presents Bill Traylor, William Edmondson and the Modernist Impulse, on view through October 2, 2005. Emerging during the 1930s, Bill Traylor (1854-1949) and William Edmondson (1874-1951) each have become near-mythical figures. Traylor, a slave throughout much of his life, did not pick up a pencil until he was 83 years old; when he died ten years later, he had created over 1,500 works. Edmondson was born into poverty in 1874 and by the 1930s had begun to gather discarded stones to create simple tombstones; he left behind a body of work full of strongly abstract forms and divine inspiration.

Both artists are often considered “outsider” whose works reflect the roots of African–American culture. However, a strong—and somewhat unexplored—aesthetic connection exists between their works and those of the “official” avant-garde of the period. Organized by the Krannert Art Museum at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and curated by Menil director Josef Helfenstein, Bill Traylor, William Edmondson and the Modernist Impulse marks the first time that the two artist’s bodies of work and careers will be contextualized not only within their own communities but also within the broader context of American and European culture of the first half of the 20th century. The exhibition will include approximately 80 works from across the country—approximately 50 drawings and paintings by Traylor and 25 sculptures by Edmondson—and will be accompanied by photographs of the artists at work by Edward Weston, Louise Dahl-Wolfe, and Charles Shannon.

Bill Traylor, William Edmondson and the Modernist Impulse will be on view at the Krannert Art Museum at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, October 22, 2004 – January 2, 2005; the Birmingham Museum of Art, Birmingham, Alabama, February 1 – April 3, 2005; and the Studio Museum of Art in Harlem, New York, NY, April 20 – June 26, 2005.

The exhibition is generously supported by Toni and Jeffery Beauchamp and Stephanie Smither with additional support from the City of Houston.





Bill Traylor
Figures, Animals, Guns (Exciting Events), n.d. Black Crayon on cardboard The Menil Collection

William Edmondson
Critter, ca. 1940
Collection Clara and Neil Bass