SARASOTA COUNTY, Fla. (SNN) — The Florida Highwaymen are renowned as the legendary Black landscape artists of Florida.
A collection of their paintings is on display at the Cultural Heritage Exhibit in Sarasota City Hall.
Launched in 2022, the City Hall Cultural Heritage Exhibit not only enhances the lobby’s aesthetics but also narrates the history of Sarasota and Florida’s arts and culture. The pieces rotate every six months.
The Highwaymen exhibit is on loan from Roger Lightle, a devoted Highwaymen art collector.
“It is truly the American success story,” said Lightle.
Originating in the 1950s in Fort Pierce and Gifford, Florida, the Florida Highwaymen, consisting of 25 men and one woman, earned their name by selling artwork from car trunks during the post-World War II boom.
“The art is a product of their desire to survive. These Black artists were not able to obtain representation in galleries, and therefore they were on the side of the road painting out of the back of their cars, you know, so we really want to understand why that happened but also just the respect and the notoriety that they deserve,” said Public Art Manager for the city of Sarasota Mary Davis Wallace.
Inducted into the Florida Artists Hall of Fame in 2004, the original 26 Highwaymen are showcased in City Hall.
Lightle owns one of the most significant collections of approximately 700 of their paintings.
“We found them all across our country. I’ve bought them from Alaska, I know someone who has one in Hawaii, so they managed to survive. Why is that? Why did they survive? They were painted well enough that they did survive,” said Lightle. “I believe in every state in our nation has highwaymen paintings in it.”
The exhibit is free and open to the public Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Lectures and tours of the exhibit will be offered twice Tuesday, Feb. 13 at 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. Each session will be around an hour with Lightle leading the lectures.