The Art Center purchased a major drawing, Untitled, Goat (c.1938-42), by Bill Traylor with funds from the Edmundson Art Foundation and an anonymous donor. An eyewitness to American history in the tumultuous decades following the Civil War through the Second World War, Traylor has emerged as one of the major figures of 20th-century American art. Born into slavery and untrained as an artist, Traylor began making art in his 80s, leaving behind hundreds of works expressing his views of Southern life and culture. Animals, particularly those he would have seen in the streets and rural areas of his Alabama home, play an important role in Traylor's visual lexicon. This is the first work of Traylor to enter the museum's collections.

Source: News Apr May Jun 2019