BASKET, BLACK AND GREEN

This wonderful, delicate drawing speaks to Traylor’s ongoing considerations of space and abstraction. That Charles Shannon dated this piece to Sept 9, 1939 is important: knowing that this work was completed near the beginning of Traylor’s recorded artistic practice helps to ground Basket in his oeuvre and reveals the way he explored color and form in his early work. Artists sign their art to convey ownership of their output and expression. Traylor did not sign many pieces, so the presence of his large autograph here is not only rare, but also reveals his exploration of himself as an emerging artist, and his considerations of artistic identity.