An opening reception was held at the A.E. Backus Gallery and Museum on Friday, Mar. 3, to celebrate what would have been the 100th birthday of Floridian artist A.E. “Beanie” Backus. The A.E. Backus Gallery and Museum is located at 500 North Indian River Drive in Fort Pierce, and includes 68 paintings that Florida Atlantic University loaned to the exhibit. The FAU paintings will be on loan to the Backus museum until March 18, and came to FAU through an inheritance from Thomas F. Fleming in 1961. In addition to the FAU collection, the exhibit includes a permanent and privately owned collection of oil-based paintings, some from Backus’s personal home studio. The Backus website, www.backusgallery.com, offers a virtual tour of everything that can be seen at the museum. Backus enjoyed argumentum conversation over ‘boring, pleasant conversation’, because he believed that someone who disagreed with you, made you think. According to A.E. Backus Gallery and Museum Executive Director Kathleen Fredrick, Backus always thought “outside the box.” He applied this mentality to his artistry and to his life. Fredrick says Backus never judged a person and always welcomed people into his home, regardless of how much money they made, or the color of their skin. “Backus was a man born in a small, segregated town, but viewed the world through open eyes,” Fredrick said. Backus was known as Florida’s “premier painter,” and was one of the first, (other than Winslow Homer) to paint Florida landscape. Backus was most influenced by French Impressionist painter Claude Monet. Backus’ early work was mostly impressionistic, used with a palette knife. In more recent paintings, he used the brush over the knife. Backus had expert knowledge of plants, and Fredrick says he used this skill in his work. “Backus was internationally recognized for his ability of ‘capturing the changing light in Florida,” Fredrick said. According to the Backus website, “Albert Ernest Backus died of heart failure on Jun. 6, 1990. While the studio survives only as a place in the heart for the hundreds of people who knew him, his legacy continues in the gallery that bears his name.”