From NKAA, Notable Kentucky African Americans Database (main entry)

Ellis D. Wilson was born in Mayfield, KY, the son of Frank and Minnie Wilson [source: U.S. Federal Census]. The family of seven was enumerated in the 1900 U.S. Census when they lived on Water Street. Frank Wilson owned a barber shop and was also an artist. His son Ellis would become a freelance interior decorator and painter who traveled internationally, and though he acquired international fame, he never made a living solely from painting.

Ellis worked with the Federal Art Project during World War II, painting African Americans employed in war industries. His painting The Fish won the 1946 Atlanta University Purchase Award. He received the Certificate of Merit from the U.S. Treasury Dept. for donating the painting Nocturne during the war loan drive. His works were exhibited at Kentucky institutions beginning in the 1940s.

Ellis Wilson attended the segregated colored school in Mayfield and later attended Kentucky State University for two years. He left Kentucky to study at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. By 1940, Ellis Wilson had moved to New York where he painted and worked odd jobs. in the 1940s, his work was shown in Mayfield and at the Speed Museum at the University of Louisville. Ellis Wilson would spend the remainder of his life in New York City, New York. 

For more see "ART: Kentucky-born Ellis Wilson wins $3,000 second prize in Terry Exhibit," The Courier-Journal, 2/24/1952, Section 5, p. 4; Leigh Landini, "National fame ... unknown back home," The Paducah Sun, 2/20/2000, pp. 1D & 3D; David Minton, "ART NOTES: Mayfield artist's work testifies to ability to rise above the odds," Lexington Herald-Leader, 4/9/2000, p. J6; The Art of Ellis Wilson, by A. Sperath; In Black and White. A guide to magazine articles, newspaper articles, and books concerning Black individuals and groups, 3rd ed., edited by M. M. Spradling; "Ellis Wilson," at Amistad Research Center; and Ellis Wilson, So Much to Paint, on PBS.