Al "Blood" Black (b. 1947) American, Florida Highwaymen Oil on Masonite. Al was born in Jackson, Mississippi, and was one of the original 26 painters. At the urging of their leader, Alfred Hair, he acted as the first  salesman for them, going door to door up and down highways selling their paintings and building their reputation. This piece demonstrates their fast and loose style, creating stunning colorful images of vibrant trees and skies. Signed bottom right. 

Condition: Good. 

Size: 19 1/2 x 25 1/2 Inches

Sight Size: 17 x 23 Inches

#6057 . 

The Highwaymen, also referred to as the Florida Highwaymen, are a group of 26 African American landscape artists in Florida. They painted landscapes 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. Two of the original artists, Harold Newton and Alfred Hair, received training from the famous impressionist landscape painter and teacher Alfred “Beanie” Backus starting in 1955. Newton and Hair inspired a loose-knit group of other African American artists, mostly from the Fort Pierce area, to follow their leads. Newton is particularly remembered for his technical expertise, while Hair (who was only 14 when he started painting and selling his works) is considered the leader and catalyst who “set the tone for the group” in the 1960s. In 1970 Hair was killed in a barroom brawl, 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 further reduced the demand for the movement’s work, as well as many smaller arts organizations and groups. In the mid-1990s Jim Fitch, a Florida art historian, and Jeff Klinkenberg, a writer for the St. Petersburg Times, wrote several newspaper articles about the group and dubbed them “The Florida Highwaymen.” The attention created new interest for their idyllic landscapes of natural settings in Florida, igniting sales of the paintings and substantially increasing their value and demand. All 26 Florida Highwaymen were inducted into the Florida Artists Hall of Fame in 2004: 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. Of the remaining artists in the original group (13 are now deceased) all but one artist continue to paint to this day, more than 50 years since they first started, even though most of them are now in their 70s or older. Over time their style has evolved into more carefully created works and shifted away from the original “fast painting” techniques that enabled them to produce such large quantities in their early years. The Highwaymen were mostly self-taught painters who mentored each other, creating a distinctly unique group classified usually as “Folk Art” or more recently “Outsider Art.” Painting en plein air style, the Highwaymen artists eschewed formal color theory and relied on instinct and intuition to depict their steady stream of beaches, palm trees, and Everglades scenes. Organic colors were not their main focus, as they sought to attract buyers with burnt-orange Florida skies or unnaturally fluorescent clouds. It is believed the Highwaymen may have created a body of work of over 200,000 paintings, mainly using inexpensive construction materials for their canvases rather than traditional art supplies, while challenging many racial and cultural barriers that plagued the state in the 20th Century. As no galleries would accept their work, their success, determination, and longevity is remarkable considering the racial violence and Jim Crow era prejudice of their time. Due to their place in art history as well as the civil rights movement, some critics have referred to them as “The Last Great American Art Movement of the 20th Century.” The lone “Highwaywoman” Mary Ann Carroll lived in obscurity for many years, until she was the guest of honor at Michelle Obama’s First Lady's Luncheon on May 18, 2011. Carroll presented a poinciana tree painting to Mrs. Obama, and passed away in 2019.

Good.