Herb Kawainui Kāne

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Template:Short description Template:Use mdy dates Template:Peacock Template:Infobox person Herbert Kawainui Kāne (June 21, 1928 – March 8, 2011) was an American artist and historian of Hawaiian ancestry. He is regarded as a key figure in the Hawaiian Cultural Renaissance of the 1970s. His work focused on the seafaring traditions of the ancestral peoples of Hawaii.

Kāne’s work intended to define Hawaiian culture as its own rather than having sprung up by chance from the drifting canoes of Polynesia. He sought to demonstrate that Hawaiʻi was reached intentionally with goal canoes that were able to return in voyages from Tahiti. This suggested a more complex understanding of the cultures from the Pacific Islands than previously accepted.<ref name="Emory">Template:Cite journal</ref>

Kāne created artworks of Hawaiian culture as it existed before its contact with Europeans, as well as of the period of early European influence. The themes of his paintings include war, such as in the painting Battle at Nu'uanu Pali, the potential for conflict between cultures, such as in Cook Entering Kealakekua Bay, where British ships were dwarfed and surrounded by Hawaiian canoes, as well as quotidian scenes and images of ceremonial and spiritual life.<ref name="ArtistStar">Template:Cite news</ref>

Early life and education as an artist

Kāne was born in Marshfield, Minnesota. His father, also named Herbert, worked in the family poi business, became a paniolo, and later traveled across the United States with a Hawaiian band. He also served in the Army and Navy and eventually worked as an optometrist. Kāne's grandfather immigrated to Waipio Valley from China and built the first poi factory in the Hawaiian Islands, where he cultivated taro and produced poi for the market. Kāne's mother's family was a farming family of Danish ancestry in Wisconsin.<ref name="Danes in Wisconsin">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Kāne spent his childhood moving between Wisconsin and Hawaiʻi.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

In his book, Voyagers, Kāne describes his early awakening to art. In 1935, as a child in Hilo, Hawaii, his mother took him to an art gallery, which was exhibiting the work of D. Howard Hitchcock. Kāne wrote that he was "stunned, confronted with miracles" upon seeing Hitchcock's work and had a brief conversation with him.<ref name="Voyagers" />Template:Rp Hitchcock, the first Hawaiian-born artist to achieve international recognition, focused on Hawaiian subject matter, especially the volcanic eruptions near Hilo. According to Kāne, in addition to this early exposure to art and his parents' encouragement of his interest in drawing, his most formative experiences in childhood were in Hawaiʻi, where his father and family passed down the traditional folk tales of the islands.

Kāne later served in the United States Navy, qualifying for veterans' educational benefits under the G.I. Bill. After his discharge, he used these benefits to attend the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, where he earned a Bachelor's Degree and, in 1953, a Master's degree. Under an arrangement between the two schools at that time, his Master's degree was awarded by the University of Chicago.

Early career

Herb at work in his Chicago studio

Herb Kāne operated his own advertising studio located on Chicago's famed Michigan Avenue, known as "The Magnificent Mile." As a designer, illustrator, and author, he created advertisements for books, magazines, and television. However, Kāne found advertising work unsatisfying, noting that he grew tired of drawing the Jolly Green Giant, even after winning a campaign featuring the character.<ref name="Voyagers">Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Rp

Kāne had been sailing a racing catamaran on Lake Michigan when he began researching Hawaiian canoes at the University of Chicago library and the Field Museum of Natural History.<ref name="heckathorn">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In 1961, the Field Museum publicly displayed one of the most extensive collections of Pacific Ocean artifacts at the time.<ref name="Field">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

In the 1960s, Kāne created a series of fourteen paintings depicting Polynesian canoes. In 1969, these paintings were purchased by the [[HawaiTemplate:Okinai State Foundation on Culture and the Arts]], which was then headed by its first director, Alfred Preis, the architect of the USS Arizona Memorial in Pearl Harbor, Oahu, HawaiTemplate:Okinai.<ref name="heckathorn" /> Kāne later stated that this purchase enabled him to move to HawaiTemplate:Okinai, where he lived in Honolulu and continued his study of Polynesian voyaging canoes.<ref name="icon" />

The Hōkūleʻa and its cultural impact

Kane working on Hōkūleʻa

In Honolulu, Kāne attracted a group of sailing enthusiasts, including [[University of Hawaii|University of HawaiTemplate:Okinai]] anthropologist Ben Finney and Tommy Holmes, author of The Hawaiian Canoe. Together, they founded the Polynesian Voyaging Society and began working on the Hōkūleʻa, a voyaging canoe that was based on historical Polynesian design, capable of sailing between HawaiTemplate:Okinai and Tahiti.<ref name="icon">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Their purpose was to demonstrate that ancestral Polynesian voyagers could have purposely navigated in vessels of similar type to settle HawaiTemplate:Okinai.<ref name="archive">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web

}}</ref> Kāne said his goal was also to spur a revival of cultural identity among Hawaiians and peoples of the Pacific islands. He wrote that in 1973, he, with several others at the time, realized that "if a voyaging canoe were built and sailed today, it would function as a cultural catalyst and inspire the revival of almost-forgotten aspects of Hawaiian life."<ref name="NatGeo">Template:Cite journal</ref>

Hōkūleʻa at Kailua Beach, May 1 2005

"What intrigued me was to see, if by building this canoe and putting it to active use and taking it out on a cruise throughout the Hawaiian islands, introducing it to the Hawaiian people, training Hawaiians to sail it, if this would not stimulate shock waves or ripple effect throughout the culture- in music and dance and the crafts. And we know it did."<ref name="coffee">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web

}}</ref>

Kāne designed and named the Hōkūleʻa, which was launched on March 8, 1975.<ref name="ArtistStar" /> Technically, the craft was a full-scale replica of a waTemplate:Okinaa kaulua,<ref name="Chun">Template:Cite book</ref> a Polynesian double-hulled voyaging canoe. The name Hōkūleʻa came to Kāne in a dream, he said.<ref name="Voyagers" />Template:Rp<ref name="archive" /> It is the Hawaiian term for the star Arcturus, which is important to celestial navigation in the Pacific, and the zenith star of the Hawaiian Islands.<ref name="Voyagers" />Template:Rp He served as the skipper for two years as the canoe sailed trial cruises among the Hawaiian Islands to attract crew and support for its maiden international voyage.<ref name="heckathorn" /><ref name="NatGeo" />

Kāne's role in the creation and promotion of the Hōkūleʻa helped restore pride to the peoples of the Pacific, and his paintings of traditional Hawaiian scenes and historical events have contributed to restoring lost identity. Tony Jones, the President of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, stated that Kāne had "rewritten the history of the Pacific."<ref name="Chicago">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Nainoa Thompson, navigator of the Hōkūleʻa, said Kāne was "the visionary, the dreamer, and he was the architect and the engineer. He's the one that carried the burden of building, constructing, and sailing Hōkūleʻa."<ref name="khon2">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Thompson also stated that Kāne's legacy is "transforming HawaiTemplate:Okinai's society because he brought pride and culture and inspiration back, through the canoe... He is the father of the Hawaiian Renaissance."<ref name="reflects">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Kāne died on March 8, 2011, the 36th anniversary of the launch of the Hōkūleʻa.<ref name="ArtistStar" />

Art works

File:Herb Kawainui Kane - 'Cook Entering Kealakekua Bay, January 1779'.JPG
Cook Entering Kealakekua Bay, January 1779, oil on canvas painting by Herb Kawainui Kane, 1994, Isaacs Art Center

Daniel Inouye, United States Senator from HawaiTemplate:Okinai, stated that Kāne's artwork "captured both ancient and modern-day HawaiTemplate:Okinai and helped preserve HawaiTemplate:Okinai's unique culture for future generations."<ref name="ArtistStar" /> Kāne's work was shown in large art galleries like the Bishop Museum, the largest museum in the state and the premier natural and cultural history institution in the Pacific,<ref name="Bishop">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref> [[HawaiTemplate:Okinai Volcanoes National Park]],<ref name="ArtistStar" /> [[PuTemplate:Okinaukoholā Heiau National Historic Site]], and in the [[Hawaii State Capitol|HawaiTemplate:Okinai State Capitol]].<ref name="Voyagers" />Template:Rp His paintings of Polynesian sailing have been widely reproduced, appearing as illustrations in books and articles. Among the first of these was a series of seven paintings commissioned by National Geographic Magazine and published in the December 1974 issue.<ref name="NatGeo74">Template:Cite journal</ref>

Kāne's art is characterized by realistic and precise draftsmanship when depicting historical scenes, such as his series of voyaging canoe paintings and many other paintings of battles, everyday domestic life, and ceremonial occasions, which are extensively researched.<ref name="Mendoza">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> When Kāne turned his imagination to old Hawaiian legends, alongside the Hawaiian culture's spirituality and mythology, his work became more expressionistic, with bold brushwork and vivid colors. Kāne's expressionistic style is seen in his painting Pele, Goddess of the Volcano. Standing on display at the Jaggar Museum at Kīlauea, it depicts the supernatural figure with fire in her eyes and flowing lava as her hair.<ref name="pele">Template:Cite book</ref>

Kāne's art was often heavily researched to ensure historical accuracy, including details such as weather and cloud coverage. He consulted with contacts in Washington, DC, and around the globe to achieve accuracy in his research. Kāne also uncovered ship plans in the Maritime Museum in London, which he used for some of his paintings. He designed tapestries that reflected the beauty of his paintings.Template:By whom

Site-specific works

Kāne's paintings include several large canvasses or murals for hotel lobbies and similar public and commercial spaces.<ref name="Beloved">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> His 1973 mural, made of wool, titled Opening of the Pacific to Man, was designed for a space above the entrance to the Pacific Trade Center, on Alakea and King Streets in central Honolulu. It measures Template:Convert high and Template:Convert wide, and depicts voyaging canoes and a central male figure holding a paddle. In the corner of the mural is a representation of the wayfarer's chart, traditionally made of shells and sticks, in which islands and ocean swell patterns are encoded to assist the training of a navigator.<ref name="Radford">Template:Cite book</ref> As a design consultant, Kāne worked on resorts and visitor centers in HawaiTemplate:Okinai and the South Pacific, as well as a cultural center in Fiji.<ref name="ArtistStar" /> Kāne was commissioned by the National Park Service in 1976 to paint "Keoua's Arrival", which is on permanent display in the Visitor Center at [[PuTemplate:Okinaukoholā Heiau National Historic Site]].<ref name="keoua">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Several of his large canvasses are on permanent view at the Outrigger Hotel in Waikiki in Honolulu, where the management dedicated the area as a permanent tribute to Kāne.<ref name=hotel>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

One 1973 site-specific mural, painted on a custom-designed wall as part of a history center under construction (and never completed) at [[Punaluu Beach|PunaluTemplate:Okinau Beach]], gained notoriety twice. The historical mural, titled Ancient Punaluu, HawaiTemplate:Okinai Island, measured Template:Convert wide by Template:Convert high. According to a news report, "The mural shows aliTemplate:Okinai, warriors and commoners on the black sandbar, which separates PunaluTemplate:Okinau Bay from a pond where springs provide fresh water immediately behind the beach... A ceiling of thatch gave the feeling of being inside an old Hawaiian shelter ,and the thatch hid lighting, which gave a natural, daylight look to the mural. Pebbles and sand at the base of the painting met real pebbles and sand on the floor of the history center."<ref name=stolenart>Template:Cite news</ref> [[Image:Ancient Punaluu, HawaiTemplate:Okinai Island by Herb Kane.jpg|thumb|right|Installation photo of Ancient Punaluu, HawaiTemplate:Okinai Island by Herb Kāne]] In 1975, the mural survived a tsunami that destroyed the interior of the building. According to Kāne's account on his personal blog, quoting eyewitnesses, the wave pushed all the displays out the far side of the room and left a mud line three or four feet high on the wall—except on the mural, which was dry and undamaged.<ref name="blog1">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Then, in 2005, the mural was stolen from the site, which was vacant and unfinished. Thieves are believed to have cut out the wall in five sections using a circular saw powered by a portable generator, and in this way, stole the painting, which has never been recovered.<ref name=stolenart /> Kāne responded by recreating a version of the mural in oil paint on canvas, saying, "Now all the thieves have is a preliminary sketch. "Vengeance is mine."<ref name="heckathorn" />

Stamps

Kāne designed seven postage stamps for the U.S. Postal Service including stamps commemorating each of the 25th and the 50th anniversaries of Hawaiian statehood. His 1984 stamp for the 25th anniversary of Hawaiian statehood depicts a double-hulled voyaging canoe, a Pacific golden plover (a migratory bird which winters in HawaiTemplate:Okinai), and a volcano erupting on the flank of Mauna Loa, on the Big Island of HawaiTemplate:Okinai.<ref name="arago493">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> On the day of its release, sales of this stamp set a new record for the U.S. Postal Service.Template:Citation needed

Kāne's 2009 stamp for the State's 50th anniversary depicts a person surfing and people paddling a traditional outrigger canoe, all riding the same wave.<ref name="usps2008">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> This stamp engendered some controversy, as Kāne was critical of the typography in the final design, which he felt mistakenly substituted an apostrophe for the symbol that signals a glottal stop in the word HawaiTemplate:Okinai and is known by the term [[Template:Okinaokina]].<ref name="sickens">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="critical">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> He also designed stamps for several Pacific island nations, including French Polynesia, the Federated States of Micronesia, as well as the Republic of the Marshall Islands.<ref name="ArtistStar" />

Three-dimensional art

Although best known for his paintings, Kāne also produced a limited-edition bronze sculpture and other three-dimensional works<ref name="Voyagers" />Template:Rp besides the Hōkūleʻa.<ref name="Chicago" /> His monumental bronze figure, The Young Kamehameha, stands in Wailea, Maui.<ref name="Voyagers" />Template:Rp

Last commission

Kāne's last commissioned work was for the Royal Hawaiian Hotel, a wall-sized painting of Kamehameha I's landing in Oahu. Though he died before the work was completed, he left instructions stating that Brook Kapūkuniahi Parker should finish the commission. However, the hotel displayed the work as unfinished.<ref name="urlFaces of the Ancestors">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Publications

Kāne communicated the importance of Hawaiian culture and its origins in print (as author, publisher, and illustrator) and television. Kāne is the author of several books, including:

Kāne is an illustrator of:

  • The Life and Times of John Young: Confidant and Advisor to Kamehameha the Great<ref name="Life and Times of John Young">Template:Cite book</ref>
  • The Power of the Stone: A Hawaiian Ghost Story<ref name="Power of the Stone">Template:Cite book</ref>
  • Christmas Time with Eddie Kamae and the [[Sons of Hawaii|Sons of HawaiTemplate:Okinai]] (1977 album cover: Hawaii Sons HS-4004)<ref name="album">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

|CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="premiere">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Online interviews include:

  • Never Lost: Polynesian Navigation (The Offering)<ref name="neverlost">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

  • Ask the Experts: Herb Kawainui Kāne (The Wayfinders: A Pacific Odyssey)<ref name="WayfindersExpertsPBS" /> Kāne served as a member of the advisory panel for the 1998 independent film, The Wayfinders: A Pacific Odyssey, which was broadcast widely on television stations including those of the U.S. Public Broadcasting System.<ref name="WayfindersExpertsPBS">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Honors

  • 1984—Named a Living Treasure of HawaiTemplate:Okinai by the Honpa Hongwanji Mission of Honolulu<ref name="Native American lists">Template:Cite book</ref>
  • 1987 —One of 16 chosen as PoTemplate:Okinaokela (Champion) for the Year of the Hawaiian Celebration<ref name="ArtistHist">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

  • 1988–1992 – A founding trustee of the Native Hawaiian Culture & Arts Program, Bishop Museum<ref name="ArtistHist" />
  • 1998 – Awarded Bishop Museum's Charles Reed Bishop Medal<ref name="ArtistHist" />
  • 2002 – Received an award for excellence from The HawaiTemplate:Okinai Book Publishers Association<ref name="ArtistHist" />
  • 2008 – Awarded an honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts by the School of the Art Institute of Chicago<ref name="Chicago" />

References

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