—
Florida Arts Press Release
TALLAHASSEE, FL –
Secretary of State Glenda E. Hood is pleased
to announce that sculptor Albin Polasek and
landscape painters Alfred Hair
and The Highwaymen will be
the 2004 inductees into the Florida Artists
Hall of Fame.
“It is truly an honor
to induct these significant Florida artists
into the Florida Artists Hall of Fame,”
said Secretary Hood. “Their artistic visions
have greatly contributed to our state’s
cultural heritage.”
Born in 1879 in Frenstat,
Moravia, now part of the Czech Republic, Albin
Polasek (1879-1965) was a legendary artist and
sculptor who retired to Winter Park, Florida
in 1949. He began his career as a wood carver
apprentice in Vienna and immigrated to America
in 1901. He studied sculpture at the Pennsylvania
Academy of Fine Arts and was awarded a fellowship
to study at the American Academy in Rome from
1910-1913. Upon his return to America, he set
up a studio in New York City and later moved
to Chicago to become head of the Department
of Sculpture at the Art Institute of Chicago.
In 1949, he set up his retirement home and studio
on Lake Osceola in Winter Park where he continued
to produce artwork until he passed away in 1969.
Upon his death, Albin Polasek generously donated
his sculpture for public display and requested
his studio, his home, and his galleries be open
to the public to encourage the study, appreciation,
and furtherance of representational art. In
2000, his home and studio were placed on the
National Register of Historic Places.
Alfred Hair (1941-1970)
and the Highwaymen, a small group of African
American painters from Ft. Pierce, began painting
Florida landscapes in the late fifties. Under
the tutelage of local landscape artist, A. E.
"Beanie" Backus, these young artists
developed their own individual techniques, creating
unique depictions of Florida’s sunsets,
waterscapes, marshes and inlets with raw beauty
and charm. Through the leadership and creativity
of Alfred Hair, the artists shunned traditional
methods, and painted quick, brisk images of
Florida’s tropical beauty in bright colors,
often painting on wood or masonite. They sold
their creations from the trunks of their cars
along Florida’s east coast for as little
as twenty dollars each, showering the state
with approximately 200,000 paintings. In the
70’s and 80’s, however, the Highwaymen
fell on hard times as consumer tastes changed.
But in the 90’s, an interest in “outsider
art” developed in the art world and a
Florida collector coined this group of artists
as the “Highwaymen.” Today, their
paintings are widely sought after. Several original
Highwaymen still paint today including artist
James Gibson whose paintings currently hang
in Governor Jeb Bush’s executive office.
Established by the Florida
Legislature in 1986, the Florida Artists Hall
of Fame is the highest and most prestigious
cultural honor that the State of Florida bestows
upon any individual. The Florida Department
of State presents this honor to recognize those
persons who have made significant contributions
to the arts in Florida as a practicing artist
or performer. Florida natives and those persons
who have adopted Florida as their home state
and base of operations are eligible.
The Florida Artists Hall
of Fame currently consists of 34 inductees,
including musician and performer Ray Charles,
writers Zora Neale Hurston, Tennessee Williams
and Ernest Hemingway, and visual artists Duane
Hanson, Robert Rauschenberg and James Rosenquist.
For general information
on the Florida Artists Hall of Fame, please
contact the Department of State’s Division
of Cultural Affairs at (850) 245-6470 or visit
www.Florida-Arts.org.
SOURCE: Florida-Arts.org,
Division of Cultural Affairs
