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Original Florida "Highwayman" oil painting on board by Florida Hall of Fame artist Rodney Demps. Depicted is a Royal Ponciani tree in bloom beside a road in Fort Piercem, Florida where Demps lives. Laundry is hanging on a line beneath the tree, there is a house set on columns further up the road, and white gulls swoop over a dog walking on the road. Palm trees fill the background. The elements of this picture are typical of the "Highwayman" genre. Masonite panels used by "Highwaymen" were usually nailed to a scaffold when they painted. The resulting holes are visible in this instance around the edges at the back of the picture. Signed "RDemps", 21" x 27" with frame. The group of African-American artists who were later named "Highwaymen" because they sold their paintings along South Florida highways in the Jim Crow 1950's and 1960's, originated mainly in Fort Pierce and surrounding segregated communities. As a teenager, the innately talents Hair (born 1941) was mentored by AE Backus, the leading white Florida landscape painted whose studio was in Fort Pierce. As Hair began to paint independently and sell his work, other talented young African-American men (and one woman) began to follow his lead, giving rise to the "Highwayman" group. Demps, born in 1953, demonstrated artistic talent as early as the fifth grade. He began working with Hair when he was 13, often painting background skies in Hair's landscapes. After graduating from High School, Demps worked in the studio of Sam Newton, an early leader in the "Highwayman" group. Demps is sometimes referred to as an "impressionist" painter because of the style of his landscapes. Hair had a seminal influence on the development of the "Highwayman" group of African-American artists and after his death Eddie's Place became a shrine to his memory.
