The Highwaymen (artists)

The Highwaymen were a loose association of 26 African American artists from the Fort Pierce, Florida area in the United States. Throughout their beginnings in the 1950s and 60s they created idyllic, quickly realized images of the Florida landscape and peddled some 200,000 of them from the trunks of their cars. In the 50s and 60s, it was impossible to find galleries interested in selling artworks by a group of unknown, self-taught African Americans. [" [http://www.highwaymen.bigstep.com/generic4.html Painting Florida] "] 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. [" [http://www.go-star.com/framer/highwaymen.htm The Highwaymen] " By Ken Hall] [ [http://www.gibson-highwaymen.com/generic81.html Updates & Snapshots 2006] ]

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.¹

tyle

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.fact|date=March 2008 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 succeedfact|date=March 2008 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.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, 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.³As of April 2008 seven are deceased, both Buckners, Hair, Harold Newton, A.Moran, L.Roberts and most recently, Hezakiah Baker. Most of the living artists are active and aggressively marketing their newer works. [" [http://www.floridahighwaymen.com/viewitem.php3?item_id=211&gallery_id=5 FloridaHighwaymen.com Updates & Snapshots 2006] " Newspaper Clippings about The Highwaymen]

Authentic Art

In recent years there have been many forged paintings sold on eBay and at many galleries. Because there are 26 artists that sometimes signed their names scratched with a nail into the paintings that were still wet, it became easy for unscrupulous individuals to purchase similar Florida scene paintings and forge the artists names. In 2003 Billy Yeager arrogantly named himself the official Highwaymen Curator because of a few criminally bent dealers taking advantage of buyers.Yeager has documented 100's of hours of footage of the Highwaymen and has some footage of Harold Newton and Livingston Roberts. Yeager's documentary also reveals other artists that were not included into the group even though they have been regarded as original Highwaymen by Harold Newton and Livingston Roberts themselves.

References

ee also

*African American art

External links

*PBS Highwaymen Documentary 2008 [http://www.thefloridahighwaymen.com The Highwaymen, Legends of the Road]
*Beatty, Bob. "Florida's Highwaymen: Legendary Landscapes." Orlando, FL: Historical Society of Central Florida, Inc., 2006. http://www.thehistorycenter.org
* [http://www.florida-arts.org/news/releases/2004HallofFameInducteesPressRelease.htm Florida Arts]
* [http://www.highwaymen-buy-sell-trade.com]
* http://video.search.yahoo.com/video/play?p=billy+yeager&ei=UTF-8&fr=yfp-t-501&fr2=tab-web&tnr=21&vid=1295330401
* http://www.highwaymen-buy-sell-trade.com
* [http://blip.tv/file/706129 Video about the Highwaymen] by WMFE-TV's "The Arts Connection" (begins about 5:35)