Legacy inColor:
Photo Credits:“ Collection of the Museum of Florida History” for St. John’ s River( 2010M. 005.001)-- landscape painting.“ Museum of Florida History Risner Fine Art Collection” for Poinciana Tree( 2017M. 028.001)-- the red poinciana tree.
The Artistic Journey of Curtis Arnett, One of Florida’ s Highwaymen
by Alesia Wilbekin
Curtis Arnett paints with more than brush and oil— he paints with memory, scent, sound and feeling.“ Sometimes I think I talk to the trees,” he says with a smile.“ I know what mud smells like. I know what the rain smells like when it first hits. And this is what I incorporate into my work.”
Born in 1950 in Greenville, Florida, and raised in Fort Pierce, Curtis Arnett is one of the legendary 26 artists known collectively as the Highwaymen— African- American painters who defied racial and economic barriers in the Jim Crow South to create and sell vibrant Florida landscapes. Though their works once sold door-todoor and from car trunks along Florida’ s highways for as little as $ 20, today they are treasured pieces of American art history.
‣ Curtis Arnett
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