The Highwaymen (landscape artists)
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The Florida Highwaymen were a group of African-American landscape painters who were influenced by renowned Florida landscape artist A.E. Backus during the 1950s-60s (although only Alfred Hair was a formal student of Backus). His influence extended to the twenty-six artists who have been given the name "The Highwaymen." 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.1
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 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 southeastern 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.[citation needed] 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 I-95). Today their 100,000 plus paintings have gathered significant interest and have become quite collectible. At auctions these particular painters works have been recognized with high prices. Authentic original paintings by the more talented artists in the group will 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[citation needed] as painters and not as laborers in citrus groves, their expected social role. The works are also classified as "Outsider 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.2 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, Issac Knight, Robert Lewis, John Maynor, Roy McLendon, Alfonso “Pancho” Moran, brothers Harold and Lemuel and Sam 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.3
Authentic art
In recent years there has been many forged paintings sold on E Bay and at many gallerys. Because there are over 26 artists and they signed their names scratched with a nail into the paintings that were still wet makes it easy to purchase similar Florida scene paintings and forge the artists names who only knew how to print. In 2003 Billy Yeager was named the official Highwaymen Currator because of unscrupulous dealers taking advantage of buyers. Yeager has documented 100's of hours of footage of the Highwaymen and has the only existing footage of Harold Newton and Livingston Roberts. Yeagers documentary also reveals other Highwaymen that were not included into the group even though they have been regarded as original Highwaymen by Harold Newton and Livingston Roberts themselves.
References
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External Links
- PBS Highwaymen Documentary 2008 The Highwaymen, Legends of the Road
- Beatty, Bob. Florida's Highwaymen: Legendary Landscapes. Orlando, FL: Historical Society of Central Florida, Inc., 2006. Available from http://www.thehistorycenter.org
- Back US Gallery
- Florida Arts
- http://www.floridahighwaymenpaintings.com/Store/highwaymen_art