Piano Playing Cow - I Give Better Butter Milk

Music and milk mingle in this acrylic painting on plywood by Ruby C. Williams (1930-). A stylized orange cow with a red head, yellow udders, and a black tail stares at the viewer from a green meadow. Like a checkered spine, black and white piano keys line the horned cow’s back. White lettering in a blue sky reads: “Piano Playing Cow—I give better butter milk.” Joy found in music and in farming are themes explored by Williams, whose art emerged from making roadside signs to sell her home-grown produce. Her work was featured in the Anacostia Community Museum’s exhibition, On Their Own: Selected Works by Self-Taught African American Artists (2005).