This painting is the first piece of Florida art I purchased as the Acquisition Agent for the Florida Masters Collection and is now one of the major works that anchor the permanent collection of the Museum of Florida Art and Culture (MOFAC). I wish I had it back. The real title is Cast in Osceola's Mold because of the similarity of the two war chiefs. Osceola, who led his people out of slavery and James who led his people out of poverty. |
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My wife is a Cracker and fiercely proud of her heritage. Her mother was an Albritton whose ancestors came from Georgia in ox carts and settled in central Florida around Brewster. Being an Albritton in Florida is like being a Kennedy in Massachusets except the Kennedy’s have money. Legend has it that a father and son Albritton combo had thirty seven children between them. If you knew my wife you would think of ante bellum Florida, honeysuckle and orange blossoms all dripping sweetness and that’s a true picture . On the other hand as my friend Charles Reynolds says, “It’s a mighty thin board what‘s only got one side to it.” Let me give you an example of the other side of my wife. I had been suffering with a cold and was too stubborn to go to a doctor. Wife was getting tired of me moping around the house and decided to make me an appointment with our primary physician. The receptionist said there was no way they could fit me in that day, they were jammed up. It took about fifteen minutes for my wife to convince the lady behind the desk that I was seriously ill and couldn’t wait another day to see a doctor unless they wanted to take the responsibility for my death. The lady gave in and said they would try and work me in if I didn’t mind waiting. Wife drove me down and when we got there she said, “Now listen here boy, when you get in there you dang well better be sick.” I could feel my fever rising when I walked through the door. --- to be continued --- The Eppses and the Driggerses was rough and tough and crusty. Their men was double jointed and their womenfolks was lusty. Their dogs could whip the other dogs, their horses run the fastest. And when it come to drinkin’ time, no Epps was ever lastest. -David Newell David Newell was at one time or another Editor-in-Chief of Field and Stream, Roving Editor of Sports Afield and a special correspondent for the New York Times. He retired to Leesburg, Florida where he lived and wrote until his death in 1986, six years after I visited him at his home. He used the Driggerses and the Eppses as fictional but stereotypical Florida Crackers. For folks who want to better understand Cracker culture two books are required reading. They may be hard to find. The trouble of it is that the word is most often used in a derogatory way. What it really means, in context, is someone born in Florida. Crackers have distinguished themselves in many disciplines, professions and occupations with the same genetic fortitude described by Jim Webb in his book Born Fighting. Webb describes some of those genetic traits going back as far the Celtic people and their descendants, the Scots-Irish people who populated the untamed land of the Appalachians. He lists them as “--- a mistrust of central authority, frequent combativeness and an odd indifference to wealth---” Where are the Crackers when we need them?
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HEADS UP FLORIDA ART COLLECTORS Archives
February 2018
It's All About Florida |