Through the 1950s and 1960s a loosely associated group of African American artists became known as the Florida Highwaymen. Selling paintings door-to-door and out of the trunks of their cars, these artists produced approximately 200,000 paintings.
Many of these naive works portray a paradisiacal, dream-like Florida. They are in great demand today by collectors (but collectors should be wary of the many forgeries online).
In 2004, 26 of these artists were inducted into the Florida Artists Hall of Fame.
PBS did a documentary about the Highwaymen last year.
You can see more of their art here.
More images here.
Info about Bob Beatty’s book here.
Here is a site dealing in Highwaymen art.
