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Suzanne Tswei

Local Color
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Sunday, November 11, 2001

BY SUZANNE TSWEI



Woodblock prints by Charles Bartlett include,"Hawaiian Fisherman,
1919," Bartlett was among the Western artists who started a revival of
Japanese woodblock printing.



Academy features artistry of
woodblock printmaker

Charles Bartlett hadn't planned on making Hawaii his home. The 52-year-old wandering artist thought he would make a short stop in Honolulu, a necessary respite after an extended trip through Asia before he embarked on the long ocean voyage back to England.

He hadn't counted on the charms of islanders and the natural beauty of the islands. Nor on meeting Anna Rice Cooke, a prominent art patron who later founded the Honolulu Academy of Arts.

Cooke took a liking to the proper Englishman immediately after his arrival in 1917. She arranged for him to have his first exhibition at her stately residence. (Her Beretania Street home later became the site of the museum, and his portrait of her remains at the museum to this day.)

Her endorsement gave Bartlett entree to Hawaii's elite families whose patronage was crucial for a successful career. Bartlett, who had established himself as a noted artist in Europe and New York, flourished in the islands and left a rich legacy of artwork documenting island scenery and life in the first half of the 20th century.


Charles Bartlett in a watercolor self-portrait.



"It's ironic that this Englishman is so known for his images of Hawaii that in some of the art reference book he's mistakenly listed as an American-Hawaiian artist," said Richard Miles, who was invited by the academy to guest curate a retrospective examining Bartlett's career.

The retrospective exhibit opens Thursday in the Luce Pavilion Gallery and runs through Jan. 6. The exhibit will coincide with the academy 's 75th-anniversary celebration next year.

Bartlett, talented and skilled in the academic tradition, was an artist of many distinctions, Miles said. His Hawaii images, such as Duke Kahanamoku surfing, have become icons associated with the islands.


A Printmaker in Paradise

The Art and Life of Charles W. Bartlett

Place: Luce Pavilion Gallery and Graphic Arts Gallery, Honolulu Academy of Arts, 900 S. Beretania St.

Date: Opens Thursday, running 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Tuesdays to Saturdays, and 1 to 5 p.m. Sundays through Jan. 6

Admissions: $7; $4 for seniors, students and military; free to members and children 12 and under

Call: 532-8700


"The atmosphere in Hawaii was very inspiring to him. It was the light, which is different in Hawaii. The feeling and comfort he found here. The kindliness and the aloha of the people.

"The paintings he did here were completely different from what he did before. They really took on a Hawaiian feel; they became Hawaii," Miles said.

Bartlett was unique among the Western artists who are known for their Hawaiian images, Miles said. While others came to the islands and worked for a brief period of time, Bartlett stayed and made the islands his home for the last 23 years of his life.

Bartlett was perhaps the most celebrated island artist of his time, becoming "the darling" of Hawaii's society, who favored him for portraits and invited him and his wife to social gatherings.

Bartlett also was among a handful of Western artists whose mastery of the Japanese woodblock print tradition brought a modern revival of the art form. He took up creating images for woodblock reproductions while visiting Japan, where he began a lucrative association with the famed woodblock publisher Shosaburo Watanabe.

Many of Bartlett's woodblock images are included in the exhibit. The prints depict not only scenes of Hawaii, but also the Taj Mahal in India, the Forbidden City in China and other exotic locations from Bartlett's travels.


Woodblock prints by Charles Bartlett, "The Great Buddha of Kamakura."



The bulk of Bartlett's paintings and other artworks will be displayed in the Luce Pavilion Gallery while the Graphic Arts Gallery will feature a portfolio of progressive proofs of one of his prints to illustrate the complicated steps in creating a printed impression.

The exhibit also will include etchings Bartlett created later in his career as his health began to fail. The smaller artwork, which were easier to handle than large paintings, are "little, original treasures" that have not been exhibited since Bartlett's death in 1940.

Although Bartlett secluded himself in his Manoa home in his later years, his friendly and happy disposition made him a popular figure, Miles said.

"He was a contented man, the blessed exception to the stereotypical angst-filled, neglected artist. He was happy in his life, happy in his friends and work. And he worked and ended his life as a self-described American-Hawaiian hermit in a beautiful green valley."





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Suzanne Tswei's art column runs Sundays in Today.
You can write her at the Star-Bulletin,
500 Ala Moana, Suite 7-210, Honolulu, HI, 96813
or email stswei@starbulletin.com



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