Moonlit Beach, Two Palm Trees

Alfred Hair was a member of the Florida Highwaymen, a group of self-taught artists who worked in Florida starting in the 1950s. The Highwaymen leveraged their entrepreneurial spirit to create an independent artistic tradition during the era of segregation. The group was made up of twenty-five men and one woman. Their art provided an alternative livelihood to the regional agricultural and factory work. Alfred Hair was mentored by the Fort Pierce, Fl. artist A.E. “Bean” Backus and was the only formally trained Highwaymen painter. Hair’s work encouraged other artists to take up painting.

The group created a great quantity of work, often dozens of paintings per day, which would be sold inexpensively. The paintings depict Florida landscapes and are renowned for their vibrant colors and serene scenes. Like other Highwaymen, Hair sold his paintings door to door and out of his car along roadways. This practice led Jim Finch, a Sebring Florida gallery owner, to name the group the “Highwaymen” in a 1995 essay, prompting a renewed public interest. In 2004, they were inducted into the Florida Artists Hall of Fame.

Fort Pierce and the Florida Humanities Council. “The Highwaymen Trail.” 2012. https://thehighwaymentrail.com/bibliography/.

Oil painting of a beachfront landscape with palm trees. There is a sandy beach in the foreground of the painting (a). A grove with two palm trees is on the right. The water is shown between the beach and the far green shoreline. The moon lightens the sky from just out of the frame. The work is signed at the bottom left.

The wooden frame (b) is made from repurposed construction materials. Both sides of the frame are painted brown. There is a small piece of clear tape on the top of the frame. The board is secured to the frame with small nails under masking tape. A metal wire anchored with a screw eye on each side is strung across the upper back.