Ellis Wilson

Ellis Wilson was a Mayfield-born and raised painter (1899-1977) active during the Harlem Renaissance. Wilson discovered a love for drawing by designing storefront art displays in a dress shop. Wilson's father, Frank, was an amateur painter and it is speculated that his painting stemmed from his father. Ellis Wilson first studied at Kentucky State University, but was not allowed to take classes other than agriculture and education, so he traveled north to attend the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Wilson graduated from the institute in 1923 and moved to New York in 1928, where he joined the Harlem Artists Guild. 

During the lean Depression years he worked as a painter for the Federal Arts Project, a New Deal program to support artists. Throughout his career as a prolific painter, Wilson was awarded a prestigious Guggenheim Fellowship in 1944 to paint Black Southern life. Wilson's most known paintings depict the people in Haiti. Ellis Wilson visited the country in 1952 and reimagined his style. 

Wilson was an avid painter and won critical acclaim for his exhibits, but commercial success was elusive and he was buried in an anonymous pauper’s grave after his death in 1977. His painting Funeral Procession is a notable work that was highlighted in the hit NBC sitcom The Cosby Show.