About the Author

Valérie Rousseau has been curator of self-taught art and art brut at the American Folk Art Museum, New York, since 2013, where she curated the AAMC Award-winning When the Curtain Never Comes Down (2015) and other critically acclaimed exhibitions. Rousseau holds a doctoral degree in art history and a master's degree in art theory, both from Université du Québec in Montréal, and a master's degree in anthropology from École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales, Paris. She is the author and editor of numerous publications, among them The Hidden Art: 20th and 21st Century Self-Taught Art (Rizzoli, 2017), Revealing Art Brut (Culture & Musées, 2010), and Vestiges de l'indiscipline (Canadian Museum of Civilization, 2007). Debra Purden is an American historian whose research has focused on the life and work of Bill Traylor. She has worked as a curator and registrar for many private collections in Chicago, among them the most significant private collections of Traylor. Previously part of the curatorial team at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago, Purden has held positions at the Field Museum of Natural History, the Art Institute of Chicago, and the Chicago Cultural Center.