Photographer & Author, Gary Monroe Presents “The Highwaymen: Florida’s African American Landscape Painters at Lake Wales Public Library
In honor of Black History Month the Lake Wales Library Association – Friends of the Library and the Florida Humanities Council present photographer and author, Gary Monroe. Mr. Monroe has written extensively on The Highwaymen, self-taught African American artist who painted idyllic versions of the Florida landscapes in the 1960s and 1970s.
Monroe’s lively talk relates the story of these now-acclaimed artists who sold their paintings door to door in Florida during the height of the Civil Rights Movement. Their paintings are now recognized as indigenous Florida art and are celebrated and widely collected.
Gary Monroe wrote the seminal book that introduced The Highwaymen to the world. In The Highwaymen: Florida’s African-American Landscape Painters Monroe told the story of these artists and their contribution to shaping Florida’s popular image.
He successfully nominated Florida’s Highwaymen into the Florida Artists Hall of Fame.
This program is free and open to all and begins at 6:30 p.m., Feb. 18 in the Lake Wales Public Library’s Schoenoff Meeting Room.
For details call 863.678.4004, visit the library’s website, www.cityoflakewales.com/library or Facebook, Lake Wales Public Library or Friends of the Lake Wales Public Library.
