Johnny Daniels (American, 20th Century) Herons at Sunset / A Florida Landscape

Description:

Johnny Daniels (American, 20th Century)

Herons at Sunset / A Florida Landscape
Incised signature "J. Daniels" l.r.
Oil on artist board, 23 3/4 x 35 in. (58.4 x 88.9 cm),framed.
Condition: Surface grime.
N.B. Johnny "Hook" Daniels is amongst the youngest of the "Florida Highwaymen"-self-taught African-American artists largely from the Ft. Pierce area who painted and sold views of an idealized Florida from the1950s through the 1980s. (1) As in the present work, paintings by the Florida Highwaymen commonly depicted "the essential ingredients with which to imagine the state: wind-swept palm trees, billowing cumulus clouds, the ocean, the setting sun." (2) Many of the painters found commercial success with these "escapist" depictions, selling to both tourists and locals alike. The popularity of the Highwaymens' art can be understood both economically and ideologically-they were filling a market demand for a travel memento, as well as promoting a vision of an unspoiled land not yet threatened by development. (3) (1) Munroe, Gary. The Highwaymen: Florida's African-American Landscape Painters. Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2001. Pg. 2. (2) Ibid., pg. 2. (3) Ibid., pg. 3
Estimate $400-600

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