"The Highwaymen" is a name given to a group of black artists working on the East coast of Florida from approximately 1955 to the present. So called because their marketing and sales strategy consisted of traveling the highways and byways of central Florida peddling their paintings out of the back of their cars.

Although nearly twenty of these artists still living they are, for the most part, unknown and have not received credit for their contribution to Florida's art tradition. Alfred Hair is one of them.

The story of the Highwaymen begins with one man, now deceased, who has come to be known as the dean of Florida landscape painters, A. E. "Bean" Backus of Fort Pierce.

Although Bean was a white Southerner during a time when racial equality was not yet taken seriously, he was a friend to all. This characteristic, coupled with a natural Bohemian bent, made him the perfect mentor to a group of young black men who had noted the apparent ease with which he made a living. Painting, for them, was perceived as being a way out of the fields and groves.

Most of these young men were content to learn by osmosis, by observation. Bean's studio became a place to congregate. One seemed more eager to learn than the others. His name was Alfred Hair. Alfred was the only one of this group of black men to take formal lessons from Bean and even accompanied him to the Bahamas on occasion.

Apparently Alfred had an entrepreneurial spirit because he later organized some of the others who had hung around Bean's studio and began to "mass produce" Florida landscape paintings. They were usually done on Upsom board with whatever materials were at hand, including house paint. Some were tree painters, some painted only skies, others did water. Who signed the paintings was of little concern to anyone.

Unfortunately, Alfred Hair was killed in a barroom brawl. Lacking his organizational skills, most of the others went their own ways and began to paint and sell for themselves. Not all of these artists were content to paint by formula. Some went on to develop their talents and skills and have gained respectable reputations. Some retained the highway sales technique.

As it happens, my grandfather's sister married Alfred Hair's father. These paintings by Alfred Hair were willed to me.