Displaying items by tag: just folk

Bill Traylor (1853-1949), one of the most celebrated self-taught artists, spent most of his life as a sharecropper on the Alabama plantation where he was born. Traylor’s talent as an artist emerged suddenly after he left the plantation for Montgomery, where he took up residence at the Ross Clayton Funeral Parlor. After sleeping on a pallet among the caskets, Traylor would spend his days drawing, attracting spectators and children from the neighborhood. According to the book Bill Traylor, Unfiltered, published by Just Folk, “It is a mystery as to what could have motivated an 83-year-old man, born into slavery, who could not read or write, and had no training or exposure to art, to pick up a pencil and a straight-edged stick and start drawing figures on discarded cardboard in the spring of 1939. What is even more amazing is that, from that point, he almost never stopped drawing for the next three years, creating an incredible output of work, which is estimated at 1,200–1,600 pieces.”   

Visit InCollect.com to learn more about the Met's Bill Traylor exhibit.

The Metro Show, The New Face of Art & Design, kicks off on January 24, 2013 at the Metropolitan Pavilion in Chelsea and runs through January 27. Produced by the Art Fair Company, which organizes the Sculpture Objects & Functional Art Fairs as well as the Antique Dealers League Spring Show NYC, the Metro Show brings together a striking mix of historic and contemporary art and design.

The second edition of the Metro Show boasts an impressive roster of exhibitors that includes Bernard Goldberg Fine Arts, Carl Hammer Gallery, Gary Sullivan Antiques, Just Folk, Ricco/Maresca Gallery, M. Finkel & Daughter, Hill Gallery, Samuel Herrup Antiques, Stephen Score, and many more. A broad range of objects will be on view including paintings, furniture, drawings, prints, photographs, sculpture, folk art, textiles, and decorative arts.

Caroline Kerrigan Lerch, Director of the Metro Show said, “Our vision is to illustrate the intellect, beauty, and vision in American arts and design, while placing it in a more modern and international context. We want to broaden its appeal and reach out to a new and younger audience while renewing the interest of the loyal attendees who flock each January to the Metropolitan Pavilion.”

The Metro Show will hold an invitation-only preview on January 23 from 6-7PM and a public preview from 7-9PM.