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THE HIGHWAYMEN The story and art of Florida's folk artists

December 20, 2006

For Immediate Release
Contact: Alan Edstrom at 518-587-1935
First Out-of-State Appearance for FloridaÌs Highwaymen Exhibit
Classic American Road-Cruisers Provide Accent to View of 1950s Florida

SARATOGA SPRINGS, NY

One of Florida's treasures is making a winter-time visit to the Saratoga Automobile Museum, and it isnÌt orange juice. Indeed, many of the African-American artists whose work will be exhibited in The Highwaymen, took up landscape painting specifically to escape dreary lives of fruit-picking in the citrus groves that dominated the stateÌs rural economy in the mid-20th century.

The appearance at SAM marks the first viewing outside Florida of The Highwaymen. Taken together the 35 paintings produced in the 1950s and 1960s by a group of 26 working-class African-American artists from Fort Pierce, provide an idyllic view of rural Florida before five decades of development transformed the stateÌs appearance. Supporting exhibit material gives a close-up look at how one group of African Americans achieved prosperity during the nascent days of the civil rights movement.

The exhibit kicks off its eight-week run with a free-to-the-public reception at the Museum Saturday, January 13 from 5:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.

The Museum's executive director, Steve Potter, explained the apparent contradiction of having non-automotive art on display at an institution ostensibly dedicated to the automobile. "While not a single automobile appears in these marvelous images of a now long-gone Florida, the automobile (specifically those big American sedans of the 1950s and 1960s) was critical to the artistic and commercial success of the Highwaymen." Potter said. "Florida was part of the segregated South, and the Highwaymen were working-class African Americans, without access to art galleries. The automobile made it possible for them to take their art right to the customer, and to carve out an existence as professional artists."

Forgotten for many years, the Highwaymen's Florida landscapes are now seen as an important collection of 20th century artwork. The groupÌs founder, Alfred Hair, along with artists including Hezekiah Baker, James Gibson, Johnny Daniels, Roy McLendon, Rodney Demps, Mary Ann Carroll, Issac Knight, Wille (Bill) Reagan, Sam Newton and Harold Newton, created fantasies of Florida life from beach scenes of brilliant pastel sunsets, tumbling and crashing waves, to scenic views featuring moss-covered palm trees and royal red Poinciana trees. Their paintings, which half a century ago sold for as little as $10.00, today command as much as $10,000.

SAM plans a number of educational and cultural programs based around the exhibit. Prominent among them, according the Alan Edstrom, who oversees the MuseumÌs educational programming are visits by more than 1,500 fourth, fifth and sixth graders from schools throughout the Capital Region.

"African-American history is part of the curriculum for these students." Edstrom noted. "At the Saratoga Automobile Museum they'll have a chance to see the reality of one part of that history."

The Highwaymen was curated by the Orange County Regional History Center, Orlando, Florida.

The mission of the Saratoga Automobile Museum is to display significant cars, trucks, and vehicles that not only represent the automotive heritage of New York State but the entire world of motorized transportation. In addition to a permanent collection of vehicles, the Museum is chartered by the Board of Regents of the State of New York Department of Education and hosts a variety of workshops, interactive displays, lectures, and outdoor shows.

The Saratoga Automobile Museum is located on the grounds of Saratoga Spa State Park at 110 Avenue of the Pines.

CLICK HERE for more information on the Orange County Regional Historical Center