Painter. He received noted acclaim as a 20th Century American artist, who painted nature scenes mainly in the State of Florida. He was a prolific artist, who painted for 54 years. Professionally known as A.E. Backus, he was born Albert Ernest Backus and called "Beanie." He left high school before graduation to go to New York City for art school. Although he only attended summer sessions in 1924 and 1925 at the Parson Art School in New York City, he was mainly self-taught with reading books and art periodicals. In his early pieces, he used a palette knife over the use of a brush, which gave his paintings movement and depth. He lean toward Monet's impressionism in the 1930s to the 1950s. He loved the play of light on objects in the early morning or evening. As a starving artist, he had a successful one-man show in a gallery in Fort Pierce, Florida in 1931. In 1939, he was selected to represent the State of Florida in an exclusive exhibit of American art in San Francisco, California. This followed with him being the recipient of the "Bemis Award" from the Florida Federation of Arts, the organization's highest honor for state artists. While serving in the United States Navy during World War II on board the USS Hermitage, he painted in watercolors and oils the beautiful scenes found on the California coastline, on the South Pacific Islands of Tahiti and Bora Bora, and in European ports. After the war, he became a fixture at art shows in South Florida such as the Fairchild Tropical Gardens Art Show in Miami. As he got older, he had problems with his vision and used the brush more. After having cataracts removed from his eyes, colors bloomed in his paintings. Loving nature especially Florida native plants and animals, he captured in his paintings the rough backwoods of Florida. Even as an elderly man in his 80s, he could be found sketching a sunrise or a palm tree. He loved Duke Ellington and that music could be regularly heard streaming from his studio as he painted. In 1950 he married Patricia Nell Hutchinson, but his wife died after heart surgery five years later when she was only twenty-nine years old. For a time, he retreated to the Caribbean Islands to be alone and paint. Upon his return, Floridians welcomed these island paintings. He had no children, yet he "adopted" children, the"Backus Brats," giving them a helping hand to further their education or just talk during the tough teenage years. A child's race was not a barrier to his sincere guidance and concern. His studio door was opened to anyone in need of a place to stay for a time or food to eat, especially novice artists. He is credited with teaching art to hundreds of students. In the 1950s, he is credited with giving guidance in the founding of the Florida Highwaymen Artists, a group of 26 Black artists, who traveled up and down Florida highways, earning an income in the segregated South with beautiful paintings of the Florida landscape. Leaving a painting half finished, he died of heart failure. Located in historic downtown Fort Pierce, Florida at 500 North Indian River Drive is the A.E. Backus Gallery and Museum, which was established in 1960. His half-finished painting is on displayed there. For the Christmas Season of 2018, he had a one-man show in the Florida Governor's Mansion as every public room in the mansion displayed his works. With thousands of paintings, he is called "The Dean of Florida's Landscape Painters." He was inducted into the Florida Artists Hall of Fame in 1993.