Florida Highwaymen Art

Harold Newton Painting

The Highwaymen artists were painters discriminated against at the time, and had to sell their works on the side of the roadways, or sometimes door to door. Highwaymen artists used the palette knife painting tool and style like A.E. "Bean" Backus, though the most famous Highwaymen artist Harold Newton is considered more of a fine artist, like his teacher Backus. 

Newton taught other black artists how to paint in the Backus style, and they incorporated their own style of painting, aside from learned techniques, which was described as "fast painting." This enabled the artists to sell art quickly. They were not famous in their time like Backus, and usually sold paintings for only ten to fifteen dollars. This may not seem like much, but in the Jim Crow era of prejudice and segregation, selling fast painted art enabled them to make a living wage, which kept many artists out of the orange fields, and other manual labor jobs.

In the early 2000’s, Highwaymen art began to soar in popularity, having been written about by various news mediums, including my book Antiquing in Florida. Highwaymen art, or the Highwaymen artists, had finally arrived. Their work is no longer looked at as "motel art," but part of a legitimate art movement, one that is still popular today.