Edward and Deborah Pollack Fine Art presents “The Best of Backus,” an important retrospective exhibition of the work of A. E. Backus, the twentieth-century “Dean of Florida Landscape Painting.”  The show will display, according to Sherrie Johnson, Backus curator, expert, author, and former Backus student, the "diversity highlighting Edward and Deborah's keen educated and sophisticated sense of fine art….”

      This retrospective celebrates the seventy-fifth anniversary of the first occasion (1936) when Backus was asked to exhibit his works in a prestigious nationally-invited show at the Palm Beach Art Center along with major artists, Jane Peterson, Charles C. Curran, Anna Hyatt Huntington, and many others. Fittingly, the current exhibition will again take place in Palm Beach at Edward and Deborah Pollack Fine Art, 205 Worth Avenue, second floor, from May 3-May 30, 2011. All works are for sale. Hours are Monday-Friday, 11-5 or by chance or appointment. For more information please call 561-655-1425 or email eddeb1@aol.com.

      Albert E. "Beanie" or "Bean" Backus was born in Ft. Pierce, Florida, on January 3, 1906.  Numerous accolades abounded throughout his life. In 1968 he again showed his works in Palm Beach with a one-man exhibition at the Flagler Museum at which many thousands attended. In 1998 a posthumous exhibition of his works from the collection of Florida Atlantic University was held at the Ann Norton Gallery in West Palm Beach.

            His style was American Impressionism and his work was in such demand that many avid Backus collectors sometimes had to wait years for Backus to finish “their” commissioned paintings. No other impressionist artist ever captured the Florida light quite like Beanie Backus and accordingly, he has been included in the Florida Artists Hall of Fame.