THE ART LOVER'S GUIDE TO COLLECTING FINE ART IN FLORIDA

Albert Ernest “A.E.” Backus (1906-1990) was a prominent Florida landscape artist known not only for his creative legacy but for his altruistic spirit and fostering the arts in his community, regardless of class and race.

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Fort Myers, Florida. Photo courtesy Fort Myers-Islands, Beaches and Neighborhoods.

Upon his return from World War II, he purchased a home in Fort Pierce, Florida, where he established a studio, and cultivated a bohemian, salon-style environment where all were welcome. Despite the punishing segregation laws of Jim Crow era South, in 1955, he took the 19-year-old African American artist Harold Newton under his wing, and encouraged him to paint landscapes instead of religious scenes.

Photograph of a road sign along the highway in Key West, Florida, 1951, announcing the beginning of U.S. Route 1 to Fort Kent, Maine. National Archives and Records Administration, Office of Presidential Libraries, Harry S. Truman Library.

At the time, galleries in South Florida did not represent Black artists, so Newton took to selling his paintings out of the trunk of his car. The following year, 14-year-old Alfred Hair began taking formal art classes from Backus and within several years was taking his landscapes on the road.

Mary Ann Carroll (1940-2019), Untitled, oil on board, 30 x 36". Courtesy of Antony Hayton, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.