HONOLULU ACADEMY of ARTS Volume Six March-1938 Bulletin One

HONOLULU ACADEMY OF ARTS Volume Six March-1938 Bulletin One Queen K aahumanu I ,, it hogra ph b y N o1·bli11, a fter C hor is. HAWAIIAN PRINTS Another group of early Hawaiian prints has been added to the collection of the Honolulu Academy of Arts. It comprises seventeen lithographs by the artist-draughtsman, Louis Choris, who visited Hawaii in 1816 and 1817 with the Russian Exploring Expedition commanded by Otto von Kotzebue. In the voyages of discovery to the Pacific in the eigh teenth and early nineteenth centuries, the ships' companies usually included artists as well as navigators and scientists. Upon the return of the expeditions to their home countries in Europe, accounts were published by the leaders and were illustrated by prints made from the artists' sketches. The Russian voyage is one of particular interest to students of Hawaiiana because it resulted in the publication of a large number of relatively accurate and definitely charming illustrations of early Hawaii, and because its 4 artist, Choris, is the only person known to have painted from life a portrait of the famous Hawaiian king, Kame~ hameha I. In 1821 Captain Kotzebue published the first edition of his official account of the voyage under the title, Entdec~ kungs Reise in die Sud~See und nach de Berings Strasse sur Erforsehung einer Nordostlichen Durchfahrt, 1815~18 (Voyage of Exploration in the South Seas and the Bering Straits for the Discovery of a Northwest Passage). This book, published in Weimar, Germany, was illustrated by a number of charts and colored engravings. Two of these were of Hawaiian subjects; one was the portrait of Kame~ hameha I wearing a red waistcoat. A watercolor which is believed to be Choris' original drawing for this engraving is now in the possession of Bruce Cartwright in Honolulu. The other engraving in the Weimar edition is of the famous heiau at Kailua, Kona. An original watercolor of this print is owned by Harry G. Beasley in Kent, England. Choris, in 1822, published in Paris his own book, Voyage Pittoresque autour du Monde. It was illustrated by large lithographic plates, nineteen of which were of Hawaiian subjects, of which no less than seventeen are included in the latest gift to the Academy. A number of watercolor sketches,........,believed to be some of the originals from which the lithographs were made,........,were found by Donald Angus in London. These, together with the lithographs, were exhibited at the Honolulu Academy of Arts during recent months. The comparison thus afforded was extremely interesting. The subjects of Choris' lithographs are similar to those chosen by other artists who came to Hawaii at this early period; portraits of important Hawaiian characters such as Kamehameha I, his capable wife, Kaahumanu, and Kalai moku, the prime minister. There are also portraits of unnamed men and women that show many facial types as well as interesting details of costume and coiffure. Choris' Wood Sculpture Drawn and Lithographed by Chori s. Woman of the Sandwich Islands. Drawn and Lithographed by Charis. I • portraits have a more definite Polynesian character than do many of the other Hawaiiana portrait-prints. For his other sketches he chose subjects from contemporary life,....... the harbor of Honolulu, the heiau at Kailua, Hawaii, scenes of everyday activity, celebrations of hula dancing and de tailed drawings of objects produced by Hawaiian crafts men, such as decorated gourds, helmets, canoes and wood sculpture. All the work done by Choris during his short stay in Hawaii shows keen observation and understanding. The portrait of Kamehameha I that appears on the cover of this bulletin is one of two versions of the famous king painted by Choris. The provocative question as to which of these,......... if either,......... can be considered the original has been discussed at great length during recent months and several articles have been published on the subject, notably Kamehameha's Portrait by Hue M. Luquiens in his report to the Hawaiian Historical Society, and newspaper articles by John F. G. Stokes and Donald Angus. This lithograph was made by Choris, presumably from the aforementioned original watercolor sketch now in the possession of Mr. Angus. The other portrait is the one owned by Bruce Cart wright referred to previously in connection with the Wei mar edition of Kotzebue' s account of his voyage. This latter is the more commonly reproduced portrait of Kame hameha and is the one generally favored as having been made from life, since both Choris and Kotzebue recorded their disappointment at Kamehameha's insistence on posing in European dress. Kaahumanu, the portly queen, favorite wife and advisor to the king, is shown dressed in tapa and seated on what appears to be a makaloa mat. On her head she wears a feather lei, and across her forehead is a band of bleached hair, a style popular in that day. Over her is hung a marquee and in the distance on the left, looking toward the sea, a large sailing ship is depicted. These two details 8 <;:;;,,,,,,,., /,., ,t,, . ';,,,,,/,,.,,/ I nhabitants of the Sandwich I slands. Lithograph by Norblin, after Choris. were taken from one of the watercolors, although the rest of the lithograph differs from the original. The lithograph of the heiau at Kailua shows many inter esting details of an Hawaiian temple, some of which may be historically inaccurate. It differs slightly from the en graving published in the Weimar edition but follows very closely one of the watercolors in the Angus collection, though, of course, in the print the picture appears in reverse. The figure illustrated on page 5 is one of a number of Choris' lithographs of wood carvings. It clearly shows the sculptural quality and rhythmic lines found in the religious carvings of Hawaii. It will be seen that the artist has used the etcher's linear method of cross-hatching to produce shading, which is essentially a pencil technique. Modern lithographers, realizing that the lithographic crayon is more than a pencil, produce a richer tonal quality. The view of Honolulu Harbor shows what might be called "Queen Street in 1816". To the left of the print a flag flies over the old Honolulu Fort, which at that date was Temple of t he King in Tiritat'ea Bay. Lithograph by Norblin, after Charis. a t the bottom of Fort Street near where it now joins Hale,.. kauwila Street. In the harbor are a number of sailing ves,... sels. indicating the importance of the port of Honolulu as early as 1816. During the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries Hawaii was visited by a number of important expeditions. The first was that of Captain James Cook in 1778, whose artist was John Webber. The Academy print co},.. lection includes twenty,...five copper engravings from the Atlas of Cook's Third Voyage to the Pacific, published in London in 1784. Besides these, which were well engraved and on excellent hand,...wrought paper, we have a number of inferior copies that were made by other engravers for geography books, newspapers and atlases. In the days when the fur traders stopped at Honolulu on their voyages between China and the American northwest. no artists accompanied them, and, consequently. there were very few prints made of Hawaii. In 1787, however, there was painted in Canton a portrait of the Hawaiian chief Tyanna ( Kaiana). Prints made from this portrait appeared 10 as illustrations in the books of Portlock in 1789 and Meares in 1795. Both of these are in the Rodiek collection of prints given to the Academy several years ago by Mr. and Mrs. Wallace Alexander. The Russian expedition, for which Choris was the artist, came in l 816~ 17. This was, therefore, the second voyage from which important records of Hawaii resulted. In 1819 a French exploring expedition visited Hawaii with the artists Arago, Pellion and others. Three sets of prints were published from the sketches made by these artists, each of which is represented in the Academy col~ lection. Some of these prints are very interesting, especially the portrait of John Young and the baptism of Kalaimoku, which ceremony was performed in 1819, one year before the New England missionaries arrived in Hawaii. Many of the prints by Arago show a sterner and more brutal side of Hawaiian life than was portrayed by any of the other artists. The next important set of Island prints was the result of Kamehameha II' s visit to London. In 1823 the Hawaiian king, also known as Liholiho, took his wife Kamamalu and a number of followers to England primarily for the purpose of seeking protection for Hawaii against Russia. While there the king and queen, as well as the chief, Boki. and his wife, Lili ha, had lithographic studies of themselves made by the fashionable portrait painter, John Hayter. The charming lithographs showing the young king and queen in European dress in the style of George IV are in the Academy collection as is a very amusing colored print of "Their Majesties, King Rheo Rheo, Queen Tamehamalu; Madame Poki, of the Sandwich Islands and Suite, as they appeared at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, June 4, 1823." Shortly after this print was made both Liholiho and Kama~ malu died of measles. George IV ordered their bodies to be sent back to Hawaii aboard H.M.S. Blonde, commanded by Captain the Right Hon. Lord Byron. The artist, Robert 11 _1/,.:, ,/,1,,;,,,.,,,,,.,, Port of H onolulu. Drawn by Adam, after Choris. Dampier, accompanied this expedition and while in Hawaii painted portraits in oil of the boy king, Kamehameha III, brother and successor to Kamehameha II.

Load more