A.E. “Bean” Backus: The Fort Pierce Painter Who Mentored the Florida Highwaymen

Before the Florida Highwaymen became famous for selling vivid landscape paintings from the trunks of their cars, they learned their craft from a white-haired painter in Fort Pierce named Albert Ernest Backus. Everyone called him Bean. And Bean believed that talent had nothing to do with the color of your skin.

In the 1950s, when segregation kept Black artists out of galleries and art schools across the South, Backus opened his studio to young African American painters like Harold Newton and Alfred Hair. He taught them technique, shared his supplies, and showed them how to capture the Florida landscape in bold, luminous color. He did this not for publicity or profit, but because he recognized raw talent and refused to let it go to waste.

Painting Florida First

Backus was already an accomplished artist in his own right. Born in Fort Pierce in 1906, he spent his life painting the Florida he loved, river bends, thunderheads piling over the Indian River, royal poinciana trees blazing red against blue sky. His style was lush and confident, capturing the drama of Florida light in thick, expressive brushstrokes.

He exhibited widely and earned recognition, but his greatest legacy was what he gave away: knowledge, encouragement, and the conviction that Florida’s landscape deserved to be painted by anyone with the skill and the passion to do it.

A Legacy That Multiplied

The artists Backus mentored went on to produce more than 200,000 paintings, sold door-to-door along Florida highways. Today those works hang in museums and private collections, and the Florida Highwaymen are recognized as one of the most important art movements in the state’s history.

The A.E. Backus Museum and Gallery in Fort Pierce preserves his work alongside that of the artists he inspired. It is a fitting tribute to a man who believed the best thing you can do with your talent is help someone else find theirs.