Woman Wearing a Hat, 1988
William Tolliver (1951–2000) was a self-taught African American contemporary artist whose paintings captured Black life in the American South. His work portrays African Americans with pride and dignity. Born in Vicksburg, Mississippi, he discovered art at an early age. Without access to formal training, Tolliver taught himself by studying art books from the library, copying works by European masters, and experimenting with paint-by-number kits. Tolliver was influenced by artists like Van Gogh and Picasso, and developed an art style he later described as representational abstract expressionism. His work incorporated elements of portraiture and figurative abstraction. In the 1980s, Tolliver's works gained the attention of collectors and over the next decade, his work was exhibited in major institutions including the Smithsonian, the New Orleans Museum of Art, and the U.S. Senate Rotunda. Tolliver is known for his portrayals of jazz musicians, rural landscapes, laborers, and everyday moments, Tolliver used his art to honor African American heritage. He passed at the age of 48 in 2000 in Louisville, Kentucky.