The Highwaymen (landscape artists)

The Highwaymen, also referred to as the Florida Highwaymen, are a loose association of twenty-six African American artists from Fort Pierce, Florida, USA. Throughout the 1950s and 1960s they painted approximately 200,000 paintings and then sold them out their cars. At the end of the 1960s, the artists ceased painting and slipped into obscurity. They were re-discovered in the mid-1990s by Jim Fitch. Since then they have become renowned for their idyllic landscapes of rural Florida. The Highwaymen were inducted into the Florida Artists Hall of Fame in 2004.

History

In the 50s and 60s, it was impossible to find galleries interested in selling artworks by a group of unknown, self-taught African Americans. Instead they sold their art directly to the public rather than through galleries and art agents. Rediscovered in the mid-1990s by Jim Fitch, today they are recognized as an important part of American folk history.

The Florida Highwaymen were influenced by renowned Florida landscape artist A.E. Backus during the 1950s-80s (although only Alfred Hair was a formal student of Backus). His influence extended through Hair and Harold Newton to the other twenty-four artists in the group. Some in the formal art world have given this group and its followers the name "Indian River School," but they are most well-known as The Highwaymen. Not known as "highwaymen" in their heyday, the name was bestowed by Florida art collector and museum curator, Jim Fitch, in a 1995 article in Antiques and Art Around Florida. .

Style

The Highwaymen were mostly self-taught painters. Excluded from the traditional world of art shows and galleries, the Highwaymen painted on inexpensive Upson board or masonite and framed their paintings with crown molding (brushed with gold or silver paint to "antique" them). They packed these paintings into the trunks of their cars and sold them door-to-door throughout the south-eastern coast of Florida. Sometimes the paintings were stacked before the oil was dry. One can make out the imprint of the base of the next frame on a few of the paintings.

Paintings by the Florida Highwaymen are prized by collectors today, but their story is about much more than art. The name refers to African American artists, mostly from the Fort Pierce area, who painted landscapes and made a living selling them, door to door, to businesses and individuals throughout the state from the mid-1950s through the 1980s. They also were peddled from the trunks of their cars along the eastern coastal roads (A1A and US 1). Today their 200,000 plus paintings have gathered significant interest and have become quite collectible. At auctions some of these particular painters' works have been recognized with high prices. Authentic original paintings by the more talented artists in the group can easily bring in several thousand dollars.

Membership

It was not a formal movement and represented no “official” group, yet The Highwaymen thrived as artists and entrepreneurs through their sheer determination to succeed as painters and not as laborers in citrus groves, their expected social role. The works are also classified as "Outsider Art", or "Folk Art". They honed techniques to rapidly produce their paintings and developed strategies to sell and market their artwork outside of the formal world of art galleries and exhibitions. Their story is one of African Americans who carved out unique economic opportunities despite the social conditions of the Jim Crow South.

In 2000, twenty-six artists were identified as Highwaymen. These artists were inducted into the Florida Artists Hall of Fame in 2004 as the Highwaymen and include: Curtis Arnett, Hezekiah Baker, Al “Blood” Black, brothers Ellis and George Buckner, Robert Butler, Mary Ann Carroll (the only woman in the group), brothers Johnny and Willie Daniels, Rodney Demps, James Gibson, Alfred Hair, Isaac Knight, Robert Lewis, John Maynor, Roy McLendon, Alfonso “Pancho” Moran, brothers Sam, Lemuel and Harold Newton, Willie Reagan, Livingston “Castro” Roberts, Cornell “Pete” Smith, Charles Walker, Sylvester Wells, and Charles “Chico” Wheeler.

Of these twenty six, nine are considered "original" (or the earliest) Highwaymen: Harold Newton, Alfred Hair, Roy McLendon, James Gibson, Livingston Roberts, Mary Ann Carroll, Sam Newton, Willie Daniels, and Al Black.

In 2008, an hour-long PBS-TV documentary film called “The Highwaymen: Florida’s Outsider Artist” written and produced by father and son team Jack and John Hambrick (both veteran TV news journalists) of Everglades Productions included interviews with a portion of the artists and more than 100 original Highwaymen paintings.

As of May 25, 2009, eight are deceased, both Buckners, Hair, Harold Newton, A.Moran, L.Roberts, H. Baker and most recently, Johnnie Daniels. Most of the living artists are active and aggressively marketing their newer works.

Fakes and Forgeries

In 2001 it was well publicized that several gallery owners and unscrupulous art dealers were selling forged paintings by the Florida Highwaymen. Because of the amount of artist and the fact that they signed their names with a scratch from a nail on wet paint, it was rather simple to forge fake Highwaymen paintings. At one time over 400 paintings could be purchased from dealers on E-Bay, however after an investigative story on Fox News with The Florida Highwaymen curator Billy Yeager and a states attorney investigation, there has been a decrease of forged art on E-Bay.<ref>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C9bq7E2iE8Q

Controversy

Jimmy Stovall was one of the original Highwaymen artist, yet he has yet to become listed as an "Official Highwaymen" because of the unscrupulous people who have controlled most of the art. In Billy Yeagers documentary "The Highwaymen" Livingston Roberts is seen in a 25 year reunion stating that Jimmy Stovall had been painting with Alfred Hair from the beginning. Jimmy Stovall was discovered by Billy Yeager and his film crew after 3 years of extensive research. <ref>http://www.metacafe.com/watch/1402243/florida_highwaymen_curator_billy_yeager/ 6minutes 8 seconds Livingston Roberts and Jimmy Stovall

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Bibliography

• Beatty, Bob (2006). Florida's Highwaymen: Legendary Landscapers. Historical Society of Central Florida, Inc. ISBN 0-97723-44-3-6. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
• Monroe, Gary (2001). The Highwaymen: Florida's African-American Landscape Painters. Gainesville, Florida: University Press of Florida. ISBN 0-8130-2281-9. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)

See also

• African American art
• A. E. Backus
• Robert Butler

External links

• Highwaymen Artsit LLC
• HighwaymenLLC@twitter Follow Highwaymen LLC on twitter.com
• Research Robert Butler, AskArt.Com-The Artists Bluebook-Worldwide Edition!
• Elissa Rudolph, thesis about the history of the Highwaymen including interviews with their children.
• Cyber-Highwaymen@twitter, Follow cyberhighwaymen on twitter.com.
• The Highwaymen, Legends of the Road, 2008 PBS documentary
• Highwaymen induction into Florida Artists Hall of Fame (2004)
• Highwaymen-Buy-Sell-Trade
• Florida Highwaymen, with curator Billy Yeager
• the Highwaymen on "The Arts Connection" by WMFE-TV
• Traveling exhibition at The Orange County History Center, Florida
• Florida Highwaymen Art and Paintings Resource