<I>Lightning Storm, Two Cranes in Flight</I>
date: label: Date
content: ca. 1962
name: label: Created by
content: Roy McLendon, American, born 1932
notes: label: Caption
content: Roy McLendon was a member of the Florida Highwaymen, a group of self-taught artists who worked in Florida starting in the 1950s. The Highwaymen leveraged their entrepreneurial spirit to create an independent artistic tradition during the era of segregation. The group was made up of twenty-five men and one woman. Their art provided an alternative livelihood to the regional agricultural and factory work. McLendon began to paint after seeing the work of his neighbor, Highwaymen Harold Newton. McLendon became a full-time artist in the mid-1960s. He owns a gallery with his son, also a painter.
label: Caption
content: The group created a great quantity of work, often dozens of paintings per day, which would be sold inexpensively. The paintings depict Florida landscapes and are renowned for their vibrant colors and serene scenes. Like other Highwaymen, McLendon sold his paintings door to door and out of his car along roadways. This practice led Jim Finch, a Sebring Florida gallery owner, to name the group the “Highwaymen” in a 1995 essay, prompting a renewed public interest. In 2004, they were inducted into the Florida Artists Hall of Fame.
label: Caption
content: Fort Pierce and the Florida Humanities Council. “The Highwaymen Trail.” 2012. https://thehighwaymentrail.com/bibliography/.
label: Description
content: Oil painting of a lightning storm over a Florida landscape. There is a small body of water in the lower center of the painting (a). This stream or pond is surrounded by green and brown trees and water grasses. A downed palm tree is in the foreground. Two (2) white egrets or cranes are in flight just above the water. There is a large tree in a grassy open space on the far bank. The stormy sky is dark with large clouds. Yellow lightning cuts diagonally across the sky in the background. A forest is along the horizon line. The work is signed at the bottom right. There is an embossed logo on the reverse of the board. The board has loss around the edges.
label: Description
content: The wooden frame (b) is made from repurposed construction materials. Both sides are the frame are covered by gold-colored paint. The board is secured to the frame with small staples. A metal wire anchored with a screw eye on each side is strung across the upper back. The frame is nailed together at the corners.
place: label: Place made
content: Fort Pierce, Saint Lucie County, Florida, United States, North and Central America
topic: label: Topic
content: African American
label: Topic
content: American South
label: Topic
content: Art
label: Topic
content: Nature
setName: label: See more items in
content: National Museum of African American History and Culture Collection
label: Classification
content: Visual Arts
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift of Robert and Flory Kahn in memory of Wolf and Tybe Kahn
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of African American History and Culture
identifier: label: Object number
content: 2014.185.15ab
objectType: label: Type
content: oil paintings
objectRights: label: Restrictions & Rights
content: Unknown - Restrictions Possible
label: Restrictions & Rights
content: Rights assessment and proper usage is the responsibility of the user.
physicalDescription: label: Medium
content: oil paint on fiberboard
label: Dimensions
content: H x W x D (framed): 26 7/8 × 38 7/8 × 2 1/2 in. (68.3 × 98.7 × 6.4 cm)