The self-taught artist Willie White (William "Willie" White) was born on 25 February 1908 in the vicinity of Cranfield, Adams County, Mississippi, born and died in 2000 in New Orleans. His parents were farmers. After only three years of school, he left his family and worked on the Mississippi during maintenance work on boats and as a carrier. Finally, he settled in New Orleans, where he worked as a waiter and as a hairdresser. In the 50s and 60s he was a caretaker and sign painter and began in the early 50s to paint, inspired by painters in the French Quarter, which he observed at work. He used house paint, first imitated what he had observed, but quickly developed its own subjects and techniques.

In the late 60s he became friends with one of the painters who inspired him and volunteered to teach him about the painting. White left to encourage him, but refused his offer to guide while painting continued to pursue their own ideas and created with passion piles of perfect images, geometric shapes that fit together like a mosaic of brilliant compositions.
Willie White decorated the porch of his house in the Dryades Street in New Orleans with colorful drawings and soon began neighbors and strangers offering to buy his drawings. Although he was a quiet and modest man, he was very confident in the sale of his works.

Since the early sixties, he draw almost exclusively with felt-tip pens on white poster board. He used canvas at most, if it this was made available. Willie White drew a variety of objects, often united in the same picture: with simple shapes and bold colors, he presented with glowing markers prehistoric creatures, strange animals, horses and birds, spacecraft, earth, moon, and stars, skyscrapers, churches and houses, bright watermelon , trees and cactus.