#haroldnewton

[landscapemode]

Harold Newton, River Road, undated. Collection of Roger Lightle. Image courtesy of A.E. Backus Museum.

[owlsnhatters]

"The Highwaymen, also referred to as the Florida Highway Men, are a group of 26 named and listed landscape artists who have been called "The Last Great Art Movement of the 20th Century." This group of self taught and self mentoring African American Artists were able to define themselves against the many racial and cultural barriers of the time in which they created a body of work of over 200,000 paintings. For over 50 years, these artists from Fort Pierce, Florida who began painting in the early 1950s, created large numbers of relatively inexpensive landscape paintings, which were produced using construction materials rather than traditional art supplies. As no galleries would accept their works, they sold them in towns, cities, and along roadsides throughout Florida, often still wet, out of the trunks of their cars. Their success and longevity is remarkable considering they began their career in the racially unsettled and violent racial times of the 50s in Florida, and the social conditions of the Jim Crow South. It was not a formal movement, yet the highway men thrived as artists and entrepreneurs through their sheer determination to succeed as painters and not as labourers in citrus groves, their expected social role. The works are also classified as "Outsider Art" or "Folk Art." In 2004, these twrnty-six artists were inducted into the Florida Artists Hall of Fame identified as the "Highwaymen." Their renown has grown, and they have become a part of Florida culture and history." It was over a year ago I saw these paintings, specifically by Highwayman Harold Newton, hanging in the hallway of a retirement facility where I was assisting on a production. In between set-ups, I took a minute to check out these remarkable paintings and little did I know I was looking at a piece of history. #blackhistory #blackhistorymonth #haroldnewton #floridahighwaymen #highwaymen #artists #culture #folkart #learnsomethingneweveryday (at Sanford, Florida)

[boomchicka-mh]

Poor Napoléon. All he wants is his master’s love. :c