Note Type
Antony Hayton, Exhibit DirectorNote
Willie Daniels (1950-2021)
Firesky on the Riverbend
Oil on Canvas circa late 1990s
Image size 20" X 24"
The after-effects of Florida art researcher Jim Fitch tracking down the rumor he had heard about a group of African American landscape artists in and around Fort Pierce cannot be overlooked. Not only did Jim Fitch connect the dots on these loosely associated Black artists, but he gave them a most appropriate name, "The Highwaymen". Incredibly, they had been plying their artistic trade for 40 years before Mr Fitch shone a light on them when he wrote about them in a Florida antique magazine, triggering a slew of events. Jeff Klinkenberg, a reporter on Florida history and culture in the St. Petersburg Times, rode along with Fitch on some of his journeys to unearth the Highwaymen in 1995 and wrote the first nationally published newspaper article about the Highwaymen. Over the next 5 years, the Highwaymen became a phenomenon in Florida. Paintings hidden for years reappeared from attics, storage rooms, and garages. In 2001, Gary Monroe wrote the first book about them, "The Highwaymen". In 2024/25, at least 3 movies and one documentary series are filming about the Highwaymen.
Willie Daniel's "Firesky RiverBend" painting is very similar to a scene that the Newton brothers also created; you might spot them in this exhibit. To say that over the several decades when this was painted until his passing in 2021, Daniels may have replicated this scene hundreds of times. They would be uniquely different each time, but the look and theme would be very similar. Daniels was a neighbor of Harold Newton and Roy McLendon; he watched them paint over and over again and taught himself to paint. Firesky paintings were very popular and sold easily. It is worth comparing W. Daniel's "Firesky" to his work in the exhibit created when he was 25 years younger.