Highway Men – Artists, Not Thieves
By Diane Barile
The men at the roadside had paintings, not pistols. Propped around the trunk of their cars were oil landscapes of flaming trees, marshes with cypress and oaks and hammock decorated with egrets.
The bank of painters from Ft. Pierce and Vero Beach worked as much to make a living as to be creative.
Nationally known artist A. E. Backus, in the late 1950s, trained a couple of black men in the basics of landscape composition in oils. The trainees became the leaders of a group of twenty-four men and one woman who carried the fast painting technique into a lifetime of production.
The process of creation at times took on aspects of mass production. Several canvasses of Upson board or Masonite were set up and painted in mass production. Painted in half the regular time could be accomplished by one man or several of the team. The aim was paint fast, sell fast. As time passed, picture displays moved from roadside to hotels, offices, banks and local shops. One could have Florida art for less than thirty dollars.
This art became an example of social change. Black artists were seldom shown in commercial galleries. But the reputation of Highway Men art became recognized and led to the acceptance of black artistry in spite of “Jim Crow” prejudices. The artists were invited to show their work locally, regionally and recently in New York.
The Highway Men depicted connection to the natural wonders of central Florida. The vibrant colors reflected the light of coastal and wetland habitats. Rather than recording actual locations, the pictures related the image of the painters experience as orange grove workers or commercial fishermen. The landscapes of Poinciana trees and sunsets were images familiar to residents of coastal Florida and tokens of visits by tourists.
I bought my first Highway man picture by Newton at Granny’s Donut Shop in Palm Bay in 1983 for thirty-five dollars. I was sure the landscape was that of Turkey Creek at Port Malabar. The second oil was found outside a tourist shop in Melbourne. Then the price was three hundred dollars. Today, depending on the artist, the pictures are collected with costs in the thousands.