The Highwaymen (landscape Artists)
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The Highwaymen, also referred to as the Florida Highwaymen, are a group of 26
African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...
landscape artists in
Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...
. Two of the original artists, Harold Newton, and Alfred Hair, received training from Alfred “Beanie” Backus. It is believed they may have created a body of work of over 200,000 paintings. They challenged many racial and cultural barriers. Mostly from the
Fort Pierce Fort Pierce is a city in and the county seat of St. Lucie County, Florida, United States. The city is part of the Treasure Coast region of Atlantic Coast Florida. It is also known as the Sunrise City, sister to San Francisco, California, the Suns ...
area, they painted
landscapes A landscape is the visible features of an area of land, its landforms, and how they integrate with natural or man-made features, often considered in terms of their aesthetic appeal.''New Oxford American Dictionary''. A landscape includes the p ...
and made a living selling them door-to-door to businesses and individuals throughout Florida from the mid-1950s through the 1980s. They also sold their work from the trunks of their cars along the eastern coastal roads ( A1A and
US 1 U.S. Route 1 or U.S. Highway 1 (US 1) is a major north–south United States Numbered Highway that serves the East Coast of the United States. It runs from Key West, Florida, north to Fort Kent, Maine, at the Canadian border, making ...
). The Highwaymen created large numbers of relatively inexpensive landscape paintings using construction materials rather than traditional art supplies. As no galleries would accept their work, they sold them in towns and cities and along roadsides throughout Florida, often still wet, out of the trunks of their cars. Their success and longevity is remarkable considering they began their career in the racially unsettled and violent times of the 50s in Florida and amid the social conditions of the Jim Crow South where the stirrings of the civil rights movement were only just beginning. They have been called "The Last Great American Art Movement of the 20th century".


History

In 1955, 19-year-old African American artist Harold Newton was convinced by A. E. Backus, a prominent Florida landscape artist, to create paintings of landscapes rather than religious scenes. Newton sold his landscapes from the trunk of his car because art galleries in South Florida refused to represent African Americans. The following year, 14-year-old Alfred Hair began taking formal art lessons from Backus and, after three years, also began selling landscape paintings. Newton and Hair inspired a loose-knit group of African American artists to follow their leads. Newton is recognized by fellow artists for his technical inspiration while Hair is the considered the leader and catalyst "who set the tone for the group through the 1960s." They attracted a group of a "young, energetic" artists who painted large quantities of brilliantly colorful impressionistic landscapes that they each sold from their cars. In 1970, the group lost its charismatic leader when Hair was killed in a barroom brawl at age 29 and the prodigious output of the movement's artists began to wane. By the 1980s, a shift in public tastes and the growth of corporate entities like
Disney World The Walt Disney World Resort, also called Walt Disney World or Disney World, is an entertainment resort complex in Bay Lake and Lake Buena Vista, Florida, United States, near the cities of Orlando and Kissimmee. Opened on October 1, 1971, th ...
further reduced the demand for the movement's art. In the mid-1990s Jim Fitch, a Florida art historian, and Jeff Klinkenberg, of the ''St. Petersburg Times'' wrote several newspaper articles about the group whom Fitch dubbed "The Florida Highwaymen" for their business of selling art door-to-door along Florida's Highway 1. The attention created new interest for their idyllic
landscapes A landscape is the visible features of an area of land, its landforms, and how they integrate with natural or man-made features, often considered in terms of their aesthetic appeal.''New Oxford American Dictionary''. A landscape includes the p ...
of natural settings in Florida igniting sales of the paintings. This activity increased the value of the artwork and created further demand. All 26 Florida Highwaymen were inducted into the Florida Artists Hall of Fame in 2004. Their renown grew internationally during the early 2000s and the 26 members have been recognized for their extensive contribution and vivid documentation of mid-twentieth century Florida culture and history. Of the remaining artists in the original group (13 deceased) all but one artist continue to paint to this day, more than 50 years since they first started to paint, even though most artists are now in their 70s and some nearing their 80s. Over time their style has evolved into more carefully created works and away from the original "fast painting" techniques that enabled them to produce large quantities of paintings in their early years.


Style

The Highwaymen were mostly self-taught painters, who mentored each other. 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 paint was dry. Painting
en plein air ''En plein air'' (; French for 'outdoors'), or ''plein air'' painting, is the act of painting outdoors. This method contrasts with studio painting or academic rules that might create a predetermined look. The theory of 'En plein air' painting ...
style, the Highwaymen artists "eschew dany formal color theory and rel edon instinct and intuition to depict their steady stream of beaches, palm trees and Everglades scenes. Organic colors were not their main focus; they wanted to wow buyers with burnt-orange Florida skies or unnaturally florescent clouds."


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 Outsider art is art made by self-taught or supposedly naïve artists with typically little or no contact with the conventions of the art worlds. In many cases, their work is discovered only after their deaths. Often, outsider art illustrate ...
", 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 An exhibition, in the most general sense, is an organized presentation and display of a selection of items. In practice, exhibitions usually occur within a cultural or educational setting such as a museum, art gallery, park, library, exhibitio ...
. Their story is one of African Americans who carved out unique economic opportunities despite the social conditions of the Jim Crow South. In 2004, twenty-six African-American 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 "Poncho" Moran, brothers Sam, Lemuel and Harold Newton, Willie Reagan, Livingston "Castro" Roberts, Carnell "Pete" Smith Sr., Charles Walker, Sylvester Wells, and Charles "Chico" Wheeler. The lone "Highwaywoman" Mary Ann Carroll (1940-2019) lived in obscurity for many years. Carroll was the guest of honor at First Lady Michelle Obama's First Lady's Luncheon on May 18, 2011. Carroll presented a poinciana tree painting to Mrs. Obama. 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, a second hour-long
PBS-TV The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...
documentary film was released called "The Highwaymen: Legends of the Road". It was produced by father and son team Jack and John Hambrick (both veteran TV news journalists). The original, titled "The Highwaymen: Florida's Outsider Artists" premiered at the Appleton Museum in Ocala in 2003 and was picked up by PBS. It generally airs during Black History month. Narrated by Spencer Christian, the Hambrick team was responsible for this one as well and the second, more commercial oriented documentary. As of May 2022, eighteen are deceased, Alfred Hair, Alfonso Moran, Carnell Smith, Charles Wheeler, Ellis and George Buckner, Harold Newton, Hezekiah Baker, Isaac Knight, James Gibson, John Maynor, Johnny Daniels, Lemuel Newton, Livingston Roberts, Mary Ann Carroll, Robert Butler, Rodney Demps, and Willie Daniels. Most of the paintings are signed, but there are a number of paintings that weren't, there are a number of paintings that are sold as "Highwaymen Style" that emulate the iconic landscapes of the Highwaymen artists. Older paintings from the 1950s and early 60s era are more sought after by collectors. The A. E. Backus Gallery & Museum in
Fort Pierce, Florida Fort Pierce is a city in and the county seat of St. Lucie County, Florida, United States. The city is part of the Treasure Coast region of Atlantic Coast Florida. It is also known as the Sunrise City, sister to San Francisco, California, the Suns ...
holds an annual exhibition of highwaymen artwork.


Exhibits

The
Museum of Florida History The Museum of Florida History is the U.S. state of Florida's history museum, housing exhibits and artifacts covering its history and prehistory. It is located in the state capital, Tallahassee, Florida, at the R. A. Gray Building, 500 South Brono ...
in Tallahassee has paintings by twenty-three of the original twenty-six artists. In August thru to October 2011, at Howard University, Washington, D.C. Entitled "The Road to Freedom," a section of early Highwaymen paintings, was on view over the summer at Blackburn Gallery at Howard University, the historically black university. In February 2016, an exhibition in Ottawa, Canada was sponsored by the United States Embassy for US Black History month. The exhibit at the SAW Gallery included 30 paintings by all members of the Florida Highwaymen and a documentary. In 2017, an exhibit titled “The Florida Highwaymen: Art Innovators in a Civil Rights Epoch” was held at Homer & Dolly Hand Art Center at
Stetson University Stetson University is a private university with four colleges and schools located across the I–4 corridor in Central Florida with the primary undergraduate campus in DeLand. The university was founded in 1883 and was later established in 1887 ...
in Daytona Beach. Venues for other exhibits have included the Smithsonian
National Museum of African American History and Culture The National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC) is a Smithsonian Institution museum located on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., in the United States. It was established in December 2003 and opened its permanent home in ...
(Washington D.C.), Orange County Regional History Center (Orlando, Florida), The Florida House (Washington, D.C.), Elliott Museum ( Stuart, Florida), and The Florida Aquarium (Tampa, Florida). In March 2020, Florida legislature passed a bill creating specialty license plates to honor the group's work.


Bibliography

* ''The Highwaymen: Florida's African-American Landscape Painters''. Monroe, Gary (2001). University Press of Florida. . * ''Florida's Highwaymen: Legendary Landscapes.'' Beatty, Bob (2005). Historical Society of Central Florida, Incorporated. . * ''Mary Ann Carroll: The First Lady of the Highwaymen''. Monroe, Gary (2014). Gainesville, Florida: University Press of Florida. . * ''The Highwaymen Murals: Al Black's Concrete Dreams.'' Monroe, Gary (2009). University Press of Florida. .


See also

* African American art


References


External links


Florida Highwaymen Paintings, History, News, Videos and more
a Florida Highwaymen resource website

a ''South Florida Sun Sentinel'' article by Jeff Klinkenberg
Florida House Washington D.C. Highwaymen Exhibit
from floridaembassy.com Highwaymen Exhibit in Washington D.C.
The Highwaymen, Legends of the Road
2008 PBS documentary
the Highwaymen on "The Arts Connection"
by
WMFE-TV WUCF-TV (channel 24) is a PBS member television station in Orlando, Florida, United States. Owned by the University of Central Florida (UCF), it is the region's sole PBS member station, reaching an estimated population of 4.6 million people in i ...

Traveling exhibition at The Orange County History Center, Florida

''Voices of the Highwaymen''
a
Sarasota Observer The ''Sarasota Observer'' is one of twelve community and business publications published by The Observer Group, which was formed in 1995, and whose headquarters are located in Sarasota, Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeaste ...
article by Nick Friedman with several images of paintings
African American Impressionist artists
The Florida Highwaymen Collection For Exhibit
Amazing art story: The Florida Highwaymen (and woman)
newspaper article on Mary Ann Carroll for her appearance in Ottawa {{DEFAULTSORT:Highwaymen, The African-American artists American artists African-American cultural history Artists from Florida Folk artists Fort Pierce, Florida