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The Highwaymen: Florida's African-American Landscape Painters
"For the first time, the real story behind the Highwaymen has emerged . . . a well-researched, lively, and comprehensive overview of the development and contribution of these African-American artists and their place in the history of Florida’s popular culture."--Mallory McCane O’Connor, author of Lost Cities of the Ancient Southeast
The Highwaymen introduces a group of young black artists who painted their way out of the despair awaiting them in citrus groves and packing houses of 1950s Florida. As their story recaptures the imagination of Floridians and their paintings fetch ever-escalating prices, the legacy of their freshly conceived landscapes exerts a new and powerful influence on the popular conception of the Sunshine State. While the value of Highwaymen paintings has soared in recent years, until now no authoritative account of the lives and work of these black Florida artists has existed. Emerging in the late 1950s, the Highwaymen created idyllic, quickly realized images of the Florida dream and peddled, by some estimates, 200,000 of them from the trunks of their cars.
Working with inexpensive materials, the Highwaymen produced an astonishing number of landscapes that depict a romanticized Florida--a faraway place of wind-swept palm trees, billowing cumulus clouds, wetlands, lakes, rivers, ocean, and setting sun. With paintings still wet, they loaded their cars and traveled the state's east coast, selling the images door-to-door and store-to-store, in restaurants, offices, courthouses, and bank lobbies.
Sometimes characterized as motel art, the work is a hybrid form of landscape painting, corrupting the classically influenced ideals of the Highwaymen’s white mentor, A. E. "Bean" Backus. At first, the paintings sold like boom-time real estate. In succeeding decades, however, they were consigned to attics and garage sales. Rediscovered in the mid-1990s, today they are recognized as the work of American folk artists.
Gary Monroe tells the story behind the Highwaymen, a loose association of 25 men and 1 woman from the Ft. Pierce area--a fascinating mixture of individual talent, collective enterprise, and cultural heritage. He also offers a critical look at the paintings and the movement's development. Added to this are personal reminiscences by some of the artists, along with a gallery of 63 full-color reproductions of their paintings.
The Highwaymen introduces a group of young black artists who painted their way out of the despair awaiting them in citrus groves and packing houses of 1950s Florida. As their story recaptures the imagination of Floridians and their paintings fetch ever-escalating prices, the legacy of their freshly conceived landscapes exerts a new and powerful influence on the popular conception of the Sunshine State. While the value of Highwaymen paintings has soared in recent years, until now no authoritative account of the lives and work of these black Florida artists has existed. Emerging in the late 1950s, the Highwaymen created idyllic, quickly realized images of the Florida dream and peddled, by some estimates, 200,000 of them from the trunks of their cars.
Working with inexpensive materials, the Highwaymen produced an astonishing number of landscapes that depict a romanticized Florida--a faraway place of wind-swept palm trees, billowing cumulus clouds, wetlands, lakes, rivers, ocean, and setting sun. With paintings still wet, they loaded their cars and traveled the state's east coast, selling the images door-to-door and store-to-store, in restaurants, offices, courthouses, and bank lobbies.
Sometimes characterized as motel art, the work is a hybrid form of landscape painting, corrupting the classically influenced ideals of the Highwaymen’s white mentor, A. E. "Bean" Backus. At first, the paintings sold like boom-time real estate. In succeeding decades, however, they were consigned to attics and garage sales. Rediscovered in the mid-1990s, today they are recognized as the work of American folk artists.
Gary Monroe tells the story behind the Highwaymen, a loose association of 25 men and 1 woman from the Ft. Pierce area--a fascinating mixture of individual talent, collective enterprise, and cultural heritage. He also offers a critical look at the paintings and the movement's development. Added to this are personal reminiscences by some of the artists, along with a gallery of 63 full-color reproductions of their paintings.
- GenresArtNonfictionHistory
160 pages, Hardcover
First published November 20, 2001
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
June 1, 2009
I was just down in Delray Beach, Florida. While I was there I visited the Spady Cultural Heritage Museum, which is the former home of the late Solomon D. Spady, the most prominent African American educator and community leader in the city from the '20s through the '50s. They were showing an exhibit of a group of Florida landscape painters known as "the Highwaymen," whom I'd never heard of.
I liked the show, so I bought this book, and read it over the course of the next few days. The Highwaymen were a group of young African American painters (25 men and one woman) in and around Ft. Pierce who produced approximately 50,000 to 200,000 landscape paintings from the '50s through the '70s. The name "Highwaymen" wasn't given to them until 1994, when art aficionado Jim Fitch coined the term. While potentially pejorative because of the association with highway robbery, the name is appropriate, since the artists drove up and down Florida's coast to sell their paintings, which they produced quickly, in great numbers, and primarily to make money. They got their start when a young, self-taught black artist named Harold Newton was taken under the wing of a successful white Florida landscape artist named A.E. "Beanie" Backus. Other young black painters from Ft. Pierce followed in Newton's footsteps, most notably Alfred Hair, whose dream was to be a millionaire by the time he was 35. Although he fell short of his goal (he was murdered at the age of 29), Hair did fulfill his dream of owning a Cadillac and supporting his wife and children with the money he made selling his paintings, most of which he produced in less than an hour each. Hair is fondly remembered by most of the people interviewed for the book as a charismatic and inspiring figure. The Highwaymen often painted in groups, and encouraged one another. While their art is the type one might see hanging in bank lobbies, over sofas in middle-income homes, and in motel rooms, appreciation for it has grown in recent years. Their paintings sold for around $50 when the oils were still drying, around $5 at garage sales in the '80s, and for more than $1,000 today, now that collectors have taken an interest in their work.
Monroe's book is really wonderful. It's not overloaded with text or portentous analyses of their work. Monroe doesn't try to inflate their importance as artists. He places their work in its cultural context (he calls it "vernacular art") and talks about the many things that make it special. The bulk of the book is taken up by reproductions of Highwaymen art. There are 59 plates that showcase work by most of the artists identified as "Highwaymen," with a focus on the work of Newton and Hair. One of the interesting things about the Highwaymen is that they worked from memory and imagination. They didn't spend all day on-site, attempting to perfectly recreate the scene before them. They used brushes, palette knives, and fingers to quickly (and with the least amount of paint necessary) create vividly colored impressions of the Florida wilderness they'd grown up in. Their art has no visible political context--humans and buildings rarely appear in Highwaymen art (which is probably why the Highwaymen were able to find so many buyers for their art, as well as sell to white businesses and individuals in a volatile and desegregating South without any reports of violence or animosity), What their art does do, however, is invite the viewer to participate in a shared experience of wonder. Their depictions of Florida's natural beauty, its volatile coastal weather, and its unearthly sunsets and tricks of light are frequently stunning.
I liked the show, so I bought this book, and read it over the course of the next few days. The Highwaymen were a group of young African American painters (25 men and one woman) in and around Ft. Pierce who produced approximately 50,000 to 200,000 landscape paintings from the '50s through the '70s. The name "Highwaymen" wasn't given to them until 1994, when art aficionado Jim Fitch coined the term. While potentially pejorative because of the association with highway robbery, the name is appropriate, since the artists drove up and down Florida's coast to sell their paintings, which they produced quickly, in great numbers, and primarily to make money. They got their start when a young, self-taught black artist named Harold Newton was taken under the wing of a successful white Florida landscape artist named A.E. "Beanie" Backus. Other young black painters from Ft. Pierce followed in Newton's footsteps, most notably Alfred Hair, whose dream was to be a millionaire by the time he was 35. Although he fell short of his goal (he was murdered at the age of 29), Hair did fulfill his dream of owning a Cadillac and supporting his wife and children with the money he made selling his paintings, most of which he produced in less than an hour each. Hair is fondly remembered by most of the people interviewed for the book as a charismatic and inspiring figure. The Highwaymen often painted in groups, and encouraged one another. While their art is the type one might see hanging in bank lobbies, over sofas in middle-income homes, and in motel rooms, appreciation for it has grown in recent years. Their paintings sold for around $50 when the oils were still drying, around $5 at garage sales in the '80s, and for more than $1,000 today, now that collectors have taken an interest in their work.
Monroe's book is really wonderful. It's not overloaded with text or portentous analyses of their work. Monroe doesn't try to inflate their importance as artists. He places their work in its cultural context (he calls it "vernacular art") and talks about the many things that make it special. The bulk of the book is taken up by reproductions of Highwaymen art. There are 59 plates that showcase work by most of the artists identified as "Highwaymen," with a focus on the work of Newton and Hair. One of the interesting things about the Highwaymen is that they worked from memory and imagination. They didn't spend all day on-site, attempting to perfectly recreate the scene before them. They used brushes, palette knives, and fingers to quickly (and with the least amount of paint necessary) create vividly colored impressions of the Florida wilderness they'd grown up in. Their art has no visible political context--humans and buildings rarely appear in Highwaymen art (which is probably why the Highwaymen were able to find so many buyers for their art, as well as sell to white businesses and individuals in a volatile and desegregating South without any reports of violence or animosity), What their art does do, however, is invite the viewer to participate in a shared experience of wonder. Their depictions of Florida's natural beauty, its volatile coastal weather, and its unearthly sunsets and tricks of light are frequently stunning.
June 29, 2022
Romanticized, idealized, and idyllic landscapes of Florida were painted by a group of black artists consisting roughly of 25 men and one woman primarily from Fort Pierce and nearby Vero Beach beginning in the 1950s until the 1980s. In 1994, art enthusiast Jim Fitch named them “The Highwaymen.” They were young, anonymous, and artistic entrepreneurs traversing the highways peddling their freshly painted oils to tourists, banks, real estate companies, and insurance agencies. They produced at least 50,000 paintings and maybe quadrupled that amount. Their art was not high-brow but known as vernacular or motel art as it marketed the dream of Florida of flowers, trees, palms, birds, river settings, seascapes, and color. “Their paintings were never intended for gallery display, but as versatile wall hangings.” It was raw, immediate, intimate, honest, and unpretentious. They were influenced by Albert Ernest Backus, who was born in Fort Pierce in 1906 and became “the dean of Florida landscape painting.” However, they never felt their work was as good as their mentor and idol.
“In 1954 Harold Newton, a young self-taught artist, met Backus” causing him to begin painting landscapes. As Newton could not sell his art in galleries, he began hawking in the streets, which paved the way for others. The talented, charismatic, ambitious natural salesperson, Alfred Hair, began taking lessons from Backus in 1955. Painting on Upson boards, which was used by roofers, Hair started selling his paintings for $25.00, which he produced quickly and in quantity. Propelled by Hair’s enthusiasm and success, James Gibson, Roy McLendon, and Livingston Roberts learned from Hair. They would meet with Backus, who mentored them. The paint was barely dry before vending their artwork. Around 1998 articles arose falsely claiming that they were assembly line workers each contributing to a part of the painting. It was an exception to help unless a demand was needed or for a laugh when another painter might add a bird or color. However, they painted together at social functions and challenged each other. As time was money, “Hair increased speed and efficiency by tacking from ten to twenty boards in two rows.” Hair had helpers who lay patches of colors on the boards for Hair to “blend, build, and detail” often experimenting and modifying trees or leaves. In 1965, he hired seventh grader Rodney Demps, who became one of the Highwaymen, to prepare skies. The youngest member, Johnny Daniels, was born in the 1959. Mary Ann Carroll, the sole female, worked as an artist, carpenter, and church musician while raising seven children as a single parent. Some artists worked other jobs, but James Gibson painted full-time. Gibson and Newton produced the most paintings. Newton was the most traditionally talented of the artists. Hair’s “let your mind wander” approach believed everyone should have a painting in sharing his passion. The 1960s were a charmed time for the Highwaymen.
Unfortunately, Hair at 29 years old was shot and killed at a local bar in Fort Pierce on August 9, 1970. As their ringleader, the group began falling apart as Hair’s spirit, drive, and passion were gone. Hair’s legacy was the “practice of artless art.” Interests and styles changed. The recession hit. The interstate was built. Non-solicitation laws were enforced and occupational licenses were required. In the end, none became wealthy, some made a living, but most were struggling artists. “Every member made a contribution, painted with passion, and expressed a personal view while contributing to a collective vision, all of which constitute a a fresh and remarkable story. And, as Mary Ann Carroll says, ‘It was an honest dollar for an honest day’s work.’”
The author is a “working artist” and photographer who grew “to appreciate the art and artists” as he traveled and met with the artists, their family and friends, experts, and collectors and learned of their history. I loved this exciting, fascinating, and visual book and the collection of plates. My favorites were painted by Harold Newton, Mary Ann Carroll, Johnny Daniels, Willie Daniels, Charles Wheeler, and Alfred Hair. Hopefully, I will be able to visit a gallery, a museum, or a collection portraying their creations.
“In 1954 Harold Newton, a young self-taught artist, met Backus” causing him to begin painting landscapes. As Newton could not sell his art in galleries, he began hawking in the streets, which paved the way for others. The talented, charismatic, ambitious natural salesperson, Alfred Hair, began taking lessons from Backus in 1955. Painting on Upson boards, which was used by roofers, Hair started selling his paintings for $25.00, which he produced quickly and in quantity. Propelled by Hair’s enthusiasm and success, James Gibson, Roy McLendon, and Livingston Roberts learned from Hair. They would meet with Backus, who mentored them. The paint was barely dry before vending their artwork. Around 1998 articles arose falsely claiming that they were assembly line workers each contributing to a part of the painting. It was an exception to help unless a demand was needed or for a laugh when another painter might add a bird or color. However, they painted together at social functions and challenged each other. As time was money, “Hair increased speed and efficiency by tacking from ten to twenty boards in two rows.” Hair had helpers who lay patches of colors on the boards for Hair to “blend, build, and detail” often experimenting and modifying trees or leaves. In 1965, he hired seventh grader Rodney Demps, who became one of the Highwaymen, to prepare skies. The youngest member, Johnny Daniels, was born in the 1959. Mary Ann Carroll, the sole female, worked as an artist, carpenter, and church musician while raising seven children as a single parent. Some artists worked other jobs, but James Gibson painted full-time. Gibson and Newton produced the most paintings. Newton was the most traditionally talented of the artists. Hair’s “let your mind wander” approach believed everyone should have a painting in sharing his passion. The 1960s were a charmed time for the Highwaymen.
Unfortunately, Hair at 29 years old was shot and killed at a local bar in Fort Pierce on August 9, 1970. As their ringleader, the group began falling apart as Hair’s spirit, drive, and passion were gone. Hair’s legacy was the “practice of artless art.” Interests and styles changed. The recession hit. The interstate was built. Non-solicitation laws were enforced and occupational licenses were required. In the end, none became wealthy, some made a living, but most were struggling artists. “Every member made a contribution, painted with passion, and expressed a personal view while contributing to a collective vision, all of which constitute a a fresh and remarkable story. And, as Mary Ann Carroll says, ‘It was an honest dollar for an honest day’s work.’”
The author is a “working artist” and photographer who grew “to appreciate the art and artists” as he traveled and met with the artists, their family and friends, experts, and collectors and learned of their history. I loved this exciting, fascinating, and visual book and the collection of plates. My favorites were painted by Harold Newton, Mary Ann Carroll, Johnny Daniels, Willie Daniels, Charles Wheeler, and Alfred Hair. Hopefully, I will be able to visit a gallery, a museum, or a collection portraying their creations.
October 20, 2014
I've been fascinated by the Highwaymen ever since I learned about them from my former Tampa Bay Times colleague, Jeff Klinkenberg. If I ever take up painting, I want to paint like them, not as hurriedly as they did, but with bold brush strokes and palette knives, evoking the feeling of unspoiled Florida.
I've had this book for quite a few years and even cannibalized it for a couple of prints that hang on my dining room wall. I just read it again and enjoyed it more because I think I know the Highwaymen better than I did the first time around.
Mainly this is a series of beautiful color plates of paintings, and worth having just for that. Gary Monroe also tells the story of the 26 African American painters, based in Fort Pierce, who hit on landscape painting as an alternative to menial jobs. They weren't trying for fine art, but they made something beautiful that people responded to. They painted fast--typically multiple paintings in a day--and peddled them to businesses and tourists sometimes before the paint even dried. They sold their paintings, framed with crown molding, for $25 or so starting in the late 1950s. Business faltered in the 1980s, but enjoyed a resurgence starting in the 1990s as their story became known. Today paintings from those early years sell for thousands of dollars, although fakes are a problem.
Many of the Highwaymen (a group that includes one woman) are still painting and selling their work. When I read this book, though, I can't help but feel sad about the premature death of Alfred Hair, one of the greatest.
I've had this book for quite a few years and even cannibalized it for a couple of prints that hang on my dining room wall. I just read it again and enjoyed it more because I think I know the Highwaymen better than I did the first time around.
Mainly this is a series of beautiful color plates of paintings, and worth having just for that. Gary Monroe also tells the story of the 26 African American painters, based in Fort Pierce, who hit on landscape painting as an alternative to menial jobs. They weren't trying for fine art, but they made something beautiful that people responded to. They painted fast--typically multiple paintings in a day--and peddled them to businesses and tourists sometimes before the paint even dried. They sold their paintings, framed with crown molding, for $25 or so starting in the late 1950s. Business faltered in the 1980s, but enjoyed a resurgence starting in the 1990s as their story became known. Today paintings from those early years sell for thousands of dollars, although fakes are a problem.
Many of the Highwaymen (a group that includes one woman) are still painting and selling their work. When I read this book, though, I can't help but feel sad about the premature death of Alfred Hair, one of the greatest.
March 1, 2011
What a colorful, vibrant, well formatted book. Beyond this Monroe has done a service I wish more interested artists/academics would perform. He has taken a niche interest of his, and made a comprehensive starting point for others. His knowledge is often based on first-hand accounts. He uses primary sources to explore these great Florida painters, too often ignored because of their kitsch connotation. Just a great book. If you get a chance, but haven't gotten to the book- check out the paintings of Harold and Sam Newton.
June 5, 2023
The Florida Highwaymen were a group of 26 landscape painters who had painted the landscapes of Florida in the 1950's and the early 1960's. (The name "the highwaymen" is somewhat of a misnomer because 25 of the painters in the group were men and 1 of the painters in this group was a woman).
In "The Highwayman: Florida's African American Landscape Painters," Gary Monroe explores the history of this group of painters who occupy a very unique place in American outsider art of the second half of the 20th century.
The photo illustrations of some of the paintings that the artists who had comprised The Highwaymen which are included in this book are absolutely beautiful. Many of the locations which The Highwaymen painters had painted back in the 1950's and in the early 1960's no longer exist; the growth of the population of Florida has resulted in numerous marshes, and many miles which had been undeveloped lands along creeks, streams and rivers as well as many miles of coastlines of harbors, inlets and coastal shorelines to have been developed throughout the course of the 1970's, and continuing into the present day.
The photos of the landscape paintings which are included in this book illustrate a combination of views which disappeared in previous decades as well as some views which do still exist in the present day- as of 2023.
I highly recommend this book for anyone who is interested in art history, outsider art, landscape painting as well as to anybody who has enjoyed traveling in Florida or intends to travel to Florida.
In "The Highwayman: Florida's African American Landscape Painters," Gary Monroe explores the history of this group of painters who occupy a very unique place in American outsider art of the second half of the 20th century.
The photo illustrations of some of the paintings that the artists who had comprised The Highwaymen which are included in this book are absolutely beautiful. Many of the locations which The Highwaymen painters had painted back in the 1950's and in the early 1960's no longer exist; the growth of the population of Florida has resulted in numerous marshes, and many miles which had been undeveloped lands along creeks, streams and rivers as well as many miles of coastlines of harbors, inlets and coastal shorelines to have been developed throughout the course of the 1970's, and continuing into the present day.
The photos of the landscape paintings which are included in this book illustrate a combination of views which disappeared in previous decades as well as some views which do still exist in the present day- as of 2023.
I highly recommend this book for anyone who is interested in art history, outsider art, landscape painting as well as to anybody who has enjoyed traveling in Florida or intends to travel to Florida.
March 1, 2024
I'm an elementary art teacher in Florida so I teach about The Highwaymen every year. I am fascinated by them as well as their artwork. I chose this book because there are no books about them for elementary age children and this book has A LOT of pictures of their work. In the classroom, I don't read the text to them, but leave the book out for the students to look at the paintings.
In terms of a personal (not from a teacher's perspective) review, I enjoyed the book. I love the paintings and that where possible they credited the artist. I also liked the information provided about them. I did want to hear more from the actual artists though, especially since they're still alive. I also wish the paintings and text were spread out just a bit more. In several instances they were talking about how the individual styles of the artists differed and I would've liked to have seen examples of the paintings that were being referenced beside the text discussing it. I would also love either an index so I could look up a specific artist i.e. "Al Black" and know exactly which pages his paintings are on, or for the paintings to have been sorted alphabetically by artist.
Overall I enjoyed this book, it is a great springboard to learn about The Highwaymen and I plan to read more in-depth books about them in the future.
My favorite quotes from the book:
"the most compelling story about the Highwaymen is not about great painting. It is about young black friends who, as few others of their era have done, survived, prevailed, and left a legacy about their time and place."
"Speed freed them from working self-consciously and allowed them to paint exuberantly and confidently."
"Viewers are not outsiders looking in, as is the case with traditional landscape painting. The Highwaymen invited the viewer to enter the picture-postcard fantasies. The viewer is the point of the picture."
"The Highwaymen learned to paint without the aid of a sketch because most of them never could render well. Baker points out that "painting is not about drawing." This inability worked to their advantage. It fostered the idea of drawing the landscape with paint, the process that is rudimentary to their aesthetic. The Highwaymen rarely painted "on location." They painted at home and, through memory and imagination, created images that were emblematic and enigmatic. They worked in their yards, "like shade-tree mechanics," Carroll offers."
"Where Backus looked at the landscape, the Highwaymen saw it."
"Hair showed how speed and quality could coexist beneficially. Painting fast was a prerequisite, not a deterrent to, Hair's art. He simply "threw paint" on his boards to miraculously achieve images that are more about being alive than bout the manipulation of plastic values."
In terms of a personal (not from a teacher's perspective) review, I enjoyed the book. I love the paintings and that where possible they credited the artist. I also liked the information provided about them. I did want to hear more from the actual artists though, especially since they're still alive. I also wish the paintings and text were spread out just a bit more. In several instances they were talking about how the individual styles of the artists differed and I would've liked to have seen examples of the paintings that were being referenced beside the text discussing it. I would also love either an index so I could look up a specific artist i.e. "Al Black" and know exactly which pages his paintings are on, or for the paintings to have been sorted alphabetically by artist.
Overall I enjoyed this book, it is a great springboard to learn about The Highwaymen and I plan to read more in-depth books about them in the future.
My favorite quotes from the book:
"the most compelling story about the Highwaymen is not about great painting. It is about young black friends who, as few others of their era have done, survived, prevailed, and left a legacy about their time and place."
"Speed freed them from working self-consciously and allowed them to paint exuberantly and confidently."
"Viewers are not outsiders looking in, as is the case with traditional landscape painting. The Highwaymen invited the viewer to enter the picture-postcard fantasies. The viewer is the point of the picture."
"The Highwaymen learned to paint without the aid of a sketch because most of them never could render well. Baker points out that "painting is not about drawing." This inability worked to their advantage. It fostered the idea of drawing the landscape with paint, the process that is rudimentary to their aesthetic. The Highwaymen rarely painted "on location." They painted at home and, through memory and imagination, created images that were emblematic and enigmatic. They worked in their yards, "like shade-tree mechanics," Carroll offers."
"Where Backus looked at the landscape, the Highwaymen saw it."
"Hair showed how speed and quality could coexist beneficially. Painting fast was a prerequisite, not a deterrent to, Hair's art. He simply "threw paint" on his boards to miraculously achieve images that are more about being alive than bout the manipulation of plastic values."
May 20, 2025
The Highwaymen created a vibrant image of florida, largely for tourists, but also for themselves. The introduction to this collection of paintings discusses the artists' history, as well as the ups and downs of their lives. Florida was a difficult place for many African Americans to live, much less succeed, during the heyday for these artists. What struck me about their story was that many of artists viewed this work as labor. As the editor suggests, few got wealthy and most lived as they would if they had menial jobs, but instead of being low-paid laborers, they were struggling artists. This characterization places their work into two categories: the first being as autonomous workers, but also as dreamy artists. One look at the paintings will show a Florida that may not have even existed when they painted these works, but is still the image many have of the state. There are places in Florida that do look like these images, and despite its troubled history and present, there is an undoubtable beauty to Florida, which this unique school of artists captured. I am fortunate to own a second generation Highwayman painting, and it is one of the treasures in our home. This book is a beautiful collection of the Highwaymen's works, and a good introduction to the artists' stories.
April 27, 2019
Some nice insight into the informal group of self-taught painters that hawked their hastily -painted Florida landscape paintings to travelers and local businesses.
July 8, 2019
Astute essay. Wonderful plates of the paintings.
May 20, 2022
I live on a barrier island on the coast of Florida and I am black and a female artist. This book provided me with the history of black artists in this area of the country. I learned that one of the highwaymen was a black female and she provided a legacy of artwork to me. This book should be a part of US art history.
July 26, 2024
What a fascinating story about The Highwaymen. Being a native Floridian, I was excited to learn the history behind these paintings done by this talented group of mostly men. Their landscapes show Florida in all its natural splendor before the high rises, pavement and people. The book has over 60 photographs of the now famouns paintings. I'll be looking for them at thrift stores and if I can't find one, then I'll buy one from the source. Gary Monroe did a great job of revealing the history of The Highwaymen.
February 27, 2011
Heard the author speak at my college...a fascinating group of African-American painters (one woman among the men) who painted quickly for money rather than high art, yet their paintings beautifully evoke the Florida landscape and dreamscape. Sold for $25 each in the 60's and 70's, they are now collectors' items, selling in the thousands.
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February 16, 2015Fascinating read about an interesting art culture in American History.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews