There were no Camembert and Pinot receptions back in Curtis Arnett’s day. No slickly worded press releases, no fast-talking agents.
When the hungry young artist wanted to sell his paintings back in the 1950s, he set up an easel the side of a baking Florida road, dabbed the sweat from his brow, and waited for a few Plymouths and Buicks to pull on over and take a look.
That was the extent of the marketing available to Arnett and 25 other artists who would eventually become known as the famed Florida Highwaymen, a collective of self-taught black artists who sold their pieces up and down the Atlantic Coast.
One of the few remaining original members of the group, Arnett will make a rare appearance at LiLu’s Fine Art Gallery in St. Augustine on Saturday, where original Highwaymen works will be available for purchase.
“We are delighted to host this Florida icon in our gallery,” gallery owner Janeen Sara told The Citizen. “This is a really special opportunity to appreciate the influence and talent of this special group of artists.”
Gary Monroe, an acclaimed author and expert on the collective’s history, will also be hand to sign a book he penned on the Highwaymen that helped propel them to belated prominence.
Originating in Fort Pierce, the group’s founding members — most notably Alfred Hair and Harold Newton — created and sold vibrant landscapes of Florida’s natural beauty, painting scenes of palm trees, sunsets, swamps, and beaches, using bold brushstrokes and vivid colors.
With racial tensions rampant at the time, the collective was blockaded from mainstream art markets and galleries.
So the Highwaymen hit the road, quite literally. They loaded their paintings into their cars and traveled up and down the highways, selling door-to-door to businesses, homes, and along roadsides.
Their gritty and fiercely independent ethos earned them the nickname “Highwaymen.” Their eye-catching pieces quickly became popular among locals and tourists, despite being largely ignored by the established art world for decades.
The group’s legacy began to receive broader recognition in the 1990s, when collectors and historians began to appreciate their cultural resonance and artistic rigor. The Florida Highwaymen are now celebrated for both their tenacious innovation and their defiance of racial and economic barriers.
Their works are considered an important part of American folk art and Florida’s cultural history, and several of the original members have been inducted into the Florida Artists Hall of Fame.
The Highwaymen have a permanent exhibit at the Smithsonian in Washington D.C., and have paintings in the Capitol building in Florida and D.C.
They were recently featured in Forbes magazine, and have become popular among celebrities and politicians.
And decades after hauling their paintings in the hot Southern sun, The Highwaymen will soon be spotlighted in an upcoming documentary, Sara said.
For more information, please contact the gallery at lilusartandantiques@gmail.com or call 904-392-6231.
Lilu’s is located at 82 Charlotte Street.
