VIP Reception Exhibition Beanie Backus

A reception at the Coral Gables Museum offers an early look at an exhibition drawn from the Allen Morris Collection, highlighting the work of Florida landscape painter A.E. “Beanie” Backus.

VIP Reception: Exhibition Beanie Backus takes place Tuesday, March 31. The exhibition traces Backus’s career as a largely self-taught artist known for luminous depictions of Florida’s natural environments, from swamps and coastal inlets to expansive skies. A central figure in the state’s mid-20th-century art scene, he also played a formative role as a mentor to young Black artists, including members of the Florida Highwaymen.

The presentation reflects Backus’s personal and artistic connections to Coral Gables, where he lived in the 1930s and early 1940s, as well as his relationship with collector L. Allen Morris. Works on view span several decades and include distinctive pieces such as a painted body cast bearing one of his signature landscapes.

This exhibition marks the first installment of the Coral Gables Collects series, which explores significant works held in private and corporate collections and the stories behind them.