Early Artistic Impressions of Hawaii
Paintings by Dampier, Tavernier, Vos and Walden
© Meg Nola
May 3, 2009
From Captain James Cook’s arrival in 1778 to the 1959 official United States annexation, the Hawaiian Islands attracted many foreign visitors. There were explorers yearning to discover, missionaries determined to convert, and various other venturers and capitalists eager to make big money off of Hawaii’s plentiful natural resources. Probably the least invasive of the foreigners were the artists, who for the most part wanted only to capture the breathtaking beauty of Hawaii and the traditions and culture of its native people — particularly before Western influences changed things too much.
Robert Dampier and King Kamehameha III
In 1825, British artist Robert Dampier went to Hawaii on the H.M.S. Blonde, traveling along as the ship’s artist to document the trip. At the time, Hawaii was known as the Sandwich Islands, as Englishman James Cook’s original expedition to Hawaii had been sponsored by the Earl of Sandwich. Dampier kept busy making visual records of the exotic land, and he also did portraits of both natives and royals.
Dampier’s arrival coincided with Hawaii’s boy king Kamehameha III (1814-1854) taking the throne in 1825. Kamehameha III would reign over a conflicted period of Hawaiian history, forced to deal with the constantly increasing presence of foreigners as well as the deadly smallpox they brought along with them. Dampier’s portrait of King Kamehameha III shows a calm youth in ceremonial costume, clearly unaware of the troubles he would face. Dampier’s Sandwich Island native portraits also offer a similar (though partly unclothed) attitude of calm dignity and an interestingly Gaugin-like posing of subjects.
Jules Tavernier
Artist Jules Tavernier (1844-1889) was born in France and exhibited at the Paris Salon as a young man. He traveled to the United States to do illustrating work for magazines, making his way from New York to California. Tavernier kept on to Honolulu because he couldn’t pay his bills in San Francisco, a fortunate financial mishap as Tavernier would become one of the finest chroniclers of late 19th century Hawaii. Skilled in both pastels and oil paints, he produced stunning landscapes and was particularly fascinated by Hawaii’s volcanoes.
The region’s volcanoes were often erupting during Tavernier’s years in Hawaii, offering the additional visual spectacle of cauldrons of fire amid an already glorious backdrop. Tavernier's 1887 Full Moon Over Kilauea is a dramatic example of his work, with the fierce black crags of the volcano itself and its fiery molten heat, all beneath a glimpse of cool white moon.
Hubert Vos
Hubert Vos (1855-1935) ventured to Hawaii from Holland toward the end of the 19th century, an 1897 New York Times’ item announcing Vos‘ wedding to Eleanor Kaikilani Graham, descendant of one of the "Hawaiian dynasties." Through his marriage and general perceptions, Vos was concerned that native Hawaiians might eventually lose their unique culture. He often used everyday people in his paintings, like the musician of Hawaiian Troubadour and the white-bearded fisherman showing off an amazingly diverse catch of the day in Vos’ Hawaiian Study of Fish (1898).
Lionel Walden
Connecticut-born Lionel Walden (1861-1933) made his first visit to Hawaii in 1911 and was immediately inspired. Walden’s richly colored landscapes and seascapes offer visions of a spectacular yet tranquil Hawaiian paradise, and like Tavernier Walden also did volcano studies. Walden’s gorgeously blue-green Torchlight Fisherman, Waikiki (ca. 1920) shows a night scene of native men on the beach, yellow-white torches in hand as they search the smoothly-waved waters.
Walden, who had an established reputation in Paris and America before visiting Hawaii, became a Knight of the French Legion of Honor in 1910. He kept a studio to work in during his frequent trips back to Hawaii, and his peaceful, evocative paintings of early 20th century Hawaiiana are now reportedly fetching higher than ever prices at auction.
Sources
- The Hawaiiana Collection -- Honolulu Academy of Arts
- Hawaii: A History -- Ruth M. Tabrah, American Association for State and Local History (W.W. Norton, 1984)
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