The impactful legacy of the Highwaymen is intertwined with A.E. “Bean” Backus, who was initially instrumental in training several black artists in landscape painting along Florida’s Treasure Coast. Backus was a Fort Pierce artist who attended two years of summer classes at Parsons School of Design in New York. It was likely Backus picked up on the Hudson River School of art in his studies. Returning to Florida, Backus started the Indian River School which empowered artists to paint in a style that could support black artists of the 1960’s. He encouraged the folks he taught to pay it forward by teaching other aspiring black artists within their circle, very much the way the Hudson River School artists had done during the 1800’s. The Highwaymen practiced what is called a ‘fast painting’ style. This technique of painting is very similar to the way Bob Ross later instructed viewers on the former PBS show ‘The Joy of Painting’. The Highwaymen results were impressionist visions rich with colorful palms swaying in the tropical breeze and expansive skies filled with clouds tinted in blues, yellows, and purples. Some of the painters documented the citrus fields where they worked, the simple living scenes, and unspoiled landscapes. Most featured the signature royal poinciana trees in which every Highwayman artist has contributed their version of the bright red flowering tree.
Among these artists that are clearly descendants of the Indian River School, Tutti Jenkins stands out. Jenkins expressed hesitation about being recognized as a Highwayman in 1995, when Jim Finch wrote the article coining the term Highwaymen. Jenkins’ painting colleagues passed his contact information along to the writer, but when the call came, Jenkins declined to be included as a Highwayman because he wasn’t painting full-time, as were most of the other painters. The 26 designated original Highwaymen were then set in stone. During an interview at Waldo’s Secret Garden pop-up art weekend in Vero Beach, Tutti Jenkins agreed to be interviewed for the first time. The conversation started off with Jenkins explaining why he chose to remain in the shadows of the Highwaymen spotlight once the group became more popular in the 1990’s, “I had two cousins that were Highwaymen. I had three kids to take care of and I couldn’t take the time to sell pictures out there. I had to go to work. I did fruit groves and everything else.” Jenkins painted with his cousins and enjoyed adding his own style to painting while working as a citrus grove picker, a furniture maker, and cabinet maker. Jenkins, being a native to Vero Beach with a passion for football, has been an integral part of the Vero Beach High School football coaching staff for several decades, as well.
Jenkins has a great sense of humor but is very straightforward, speaking frankly about his motivation towards painting, “I paint with the feeling, if I feel it, I can paint. If I don’t, I can’t paint a lick. The feeling is that I can do this, and I can make it look like a picture (photograph). That’s why I like to put in more details because I want it to look like a picture. If it doesn’t look like a picture, I throw it in the woods. If it’s ugly, I’ll make a frisbee out of it.” Tutti’s wife Rachel joined in the conversation, “It really relaxes him to paint, it really does.” Tutti turned to his wife and said, “That’s my critic. When I paint something, she says, ‘You need to change that because it doesn’t look good.’ She probably could out-paint me if she tried.” It was a special experience to chat with the two of them who are clearly still madly in love with each other after 40 years of marriage.
Jenkins shared the early days when his cousin Ellis Buckner had been training him to paint landscapes, “You see, when I’m painting waves, if you look at Ellis Buckner, he’s a Highwayman, that was my teacher. If you look at his waves and look and mine, they were almost identical. He would teach me in ’69. Then I’d say, I’m going home and doing it my way.” Jenkin’s carries on the proud lineage of the legendary Highwaymen as there are only 5 remaining of the original 26.
While other Highwaymen would often churn out paintings at a quicker pace, Jenkins took his time. This philosophy of allowing emotion to guide his work set him apart creating classic American folk-art recently being discovered by more collectors and patrons of the arts throughout the country.
Written by Rob Brune
