Note Type
Antony Hayton, Exhibit DirectorNote
Alfred Hair (1941-1970)
Afternoon Sail
Oil On Upson Board Circa 1965
Image 24" X 36"
Alfred Hair's high school art teacher, Zanobia Jefferson, stepped in to help change the life of budding artist Alfred Hair in 1950s Fort Pierce. Without a strong push from art teacher Jefferson, it is doubtful he would ever have become a professional artist. After teaching him art for a couple of years, she realized there was not much more she could do for him. It was then she took him to see noted Florida artist and Fort Pierce resident A. E. Backus, a white man who saw past color; he agreed to give Hair art lessons once he'd seen his talent. Hair was taught the basics of painting and composition from Backus, but realized also learned the only way he'd ever make a living from art as a Black man was to create it as quickly as possible and sell it affordably. So he learned to paint as fast as he could and then passed on his techniques to a group of friends, who would make Art history as the Highwaymen.
This "fast painting" gem by Hair intrigues you from the moment you set eyes on it. An eerie dead tree, with hanging moss, forms a reverse "C", filling one side of the painting. The sailboat and dock bring us to the present day, or at least Florida, of the late 50s and early 60s. The shorelines then were pristine, and the vegetation and the wildlife were as they had been for centuries. The sailboat somehow informs of Florida's impending postwar boom, a sea of change. Alfred's dreamlike, almost otherworldly landscape of bent trees, billowing clouds, and "fast grass" in the foreground creates a mysterious impression of a Florida now long gone. We wonder if it really existed as we see it through Alfred's eyes. This painting was used as background set decor in the Carl Hiassen movie "Hoot".