Seeing Old Florida in a New Light: The Art of A.E. Backus and the Florida Highwaymen
For more than a century, artists have gathered along the Indian River to build a powerful tradition of landscape painting that continues to resonate today. Chief among them is A.E. “Beanie” Backus — the 20th century's foremost painter of the Florida landscape — whose generosity of spirit helped shape one of American art's most remarkable stories, the legend of the painters known today as the Florida Highwaymen. This loose collective of 26 self-taught African American artists distilled the splendor of their natural surroundings into vivid, fast, and accessibly-priced paintings sold straight from their cars. Discover the compelling stories behind these celebrated works, the vanishing landscapes they immortalized, and a legacy that continues to speak to future generations.
