The local Florida news site News Chief covers an exhibition by Robert Butler, a journeyman artist who painted the Florida landscape. It turns out Butler was one of a group of 26 artists who sold their work from the back of their cars:
Butler, who was born in 1947 in Okeechobee, is one of the Florida Highwaymen, a group of 26 black landscape artists. Their work was peddled from vehicles along the state’s highways in the 1960s. […] “The language of art transcends race, and color,” he said in a recent interview at the Florida Southern gallery. “At least, so it was with me. Art transcends all barriers. In the 1960s, I could go around most anywhere I wanted to paint. I was friends with a good portion of the ranchers, and they gave me the freedom to come and go.” […] Butler was particularly passionate about recording natural Florida, said James Fitch, who coined the term “highwaymen” in 1994. […] A retired art dealer turned acquisition agent, Fitch, 76, was scouring the state for art when he identified the trend of the highwaymen. “I thought, primarily, that this was a phenomenon,” the Sebring resident said. “Here we had a group of artists all working within the same genre, all African American, and came from backgrounds lacking in education advantages – they needed a way out.”
Butler’s Journey (NewsChief.com)
