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The Highwaymen
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The Highwaymen's paintings celebrate a picture postcard
image of natural Florida - a dream of how Floridians wanted
to see their state and how they wanted it to be seen by
others. Boom-time Florida provided eager customers for
their glistening oils, and their enterprise raged. To
them, time was money, and money was a way to keep score
in their invented game of success as they created an artistic
legacy. |
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Harold Newton was held in awe by his fellow painters and
by the consumers of their art. His paintings seemed heaven-sent,
the land appeared God-given. Newton was the prototype,
and the others took their cues from him. But they could
not equal Newton's defining brushwork and palette knife
wielding. "He could just paint better than us,"
one of his cohort says. |
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Incarcerated Highwayman Al Black was allowed to paint
murals at the Central Florida Reception Center, one
of the DoC's three clearinghouse prisons for inmates
entering the system. Ninety-one murals are painted directly
on cinder block walls, and offer contemplation as well
as a pleasant view. This is the icing on the cake of
the Highwaymen story. |
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Review the list of the Highwaymen, and see the photograph
that was taken during their 2004 induction into the
Florida Artists Hall of Fame, a function of the State
of Florida. |
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This page contains essays about the Highwaymen.
Check back regularly, as each essay will be replaced
by a new one that addresses a different aspect of
the Highwaymen's art and place in history. |
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