"The Highwaymen"

The Highwaymen also referred to as the Florida Highwaymen, are a loose association of twenty-six African-American artist from Fort Pierce,Florida,USA.Throughout the 1950s and 1960s they painted approximately 200,000 paintings and then sold them out of their cars.At the end of the 1960s,the artist ceased painting 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 Artist Hall of Fame in 2004.In the 1950s and 60s,it was impossible to find galleries interested in selling artworks by a group of unknown,self-taught artist African Americans.Instead they sold their art directly to the public rather than through galleries and art agents.Today they are recognized as an important part of American Folk history.The Florida 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 influenced extended through Hair and Harold Newton to the other twenty-four artist 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 known as The Highway men.Not as the "highwaymen" in their heyday,the name was bestowed by Florida Art collector and museum curator, Jim Fitch,in 1995 article in Antiques and Art Around Florida.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 (brushed with gold or silver paint to "antique"them ).They packed these paintings into the trunks of 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 Highway men 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,businesses individuals throughout the state from the from the mid-1950s through the 1980s.They also were peddled from the trunks of their cars along the eastern (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 artist in the group can easily bring several thousands dollars.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 "Outside," 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 artist were identified as Highwaymen.These artist were inducted into the Florida Artist 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 "Peter"Smith,Charles Walker,Sylvester Wells,and Charles "Chico"Wheeler.Of rhese twenty six,are considered "original"(or the earliest)"Highwaymen:Florida's outsider Artist"written and produced by father and son them Jack and John Hambrick (both veteran TV news journalist)of Everglades Productions included interviews with a portion of the artist and more than 100 original Highwaymen paintings.As May 25,2009,eight are deceased,both Buckners,Hair,Harold Newton,A.Morgan,L. Roberts,H.Baker,and most recently,Jonnie Daniels.Most of the living artist are active and aggressively marketing their newer works.In 2001 it was well publicized that several gallery owners and unscrupulous art dealers were selling forged paintings by the 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 Highway 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.Jimmy Stovall was one of the original Highwaymen artists,but he has yet to become listed as an "Offical Highwaymen" because he was not on the list given to the Florida's Artists'Hall of fame in 2003.In Billy Yeagers documentary "The Highwaymen"Livingston Roberts is seen in 25 year reunion 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.