As part of the Smithsonian exhibition BETWEEN WORLDS—THE ART OF BILL TRAYLOR, musicians Jason Moran and Marvin Sewell will improvise a musical conversation between the art of Traylor—who was born into slavery in 1853, and took up art in his eighties while living on the street in Montgomery, Alabama—and the music of his time.

BILL TRAYLOR BLUE—JASON MORAN and MARVIN SEWELL

Friday, March 1, at 7 pm.

Smithsonian American Art Museum

McEvoy Auditorium

8th Street and G Street, NW, Washington, D.C.

BETWEEN WORLDS—THE ART OF BILL TRAYLOR

Through April 7.

Smithsonian American Art Museum

8th Street and F Street, NW, Washington, D.C.

From top: Bill Traylor, Truncated Blue Man with Pipe, circa 1939–1942, courtesy Louis-Dreyfus Family Collection; Bill Traylor, Untitled (Yellow and Blue House with Figures and Dog), 1939, colored pencil on paperboard, Smithsonian American Art Museum; Bill Traylor, Red Man, circa 1939–1942, collection Jerry and Susan Lauren, © Smithsonian Institution; Bill Traylor, Untitled (Seated Woman), circa 1940–1942, pencil and opaque watercolor on paperboard, Smithsonian American Art Museum, the Margaret Z. Robson Collection, © 1994, Bill Traylor Family Trust.