Trunk Light

Two new books shed more light on the Highwaymen

Two new books have been added to the growing shelf of works documenting the stories of 26 artists, the cadaverous artist who served as their mentor, and the born salesman among them who became an artist himself.

"The Make of the Highwaymen" by Catherine M. Enns examines the relationship between A.E. "Bean" Backus, the so-called dean of Florida countryside painting, and the group of artists led by Alfred Hair who practised the basics of oil painting in Backus's Fort Pierce studio before turning to very nearly assembly-line efficiency in creating somewhere between 100,000 and 200,000 oil paintings. Many of them were sold, colour still wet, out of the trunks of their cars. It is lavishly illustrated with more than 200 color plates, as good as all of them reproducing works in the collection of Jonathan Otto.

Source: Sarasota Herald-Tribune