Hawaiian souvenir spoons produced in 1894 by H. F. Wichman and Company tell the story of the islands through imagery of taro leaves, bamboo, Queen Kapi'olani (center) and other isle motifs. Queen Lili'uokalani owned a spoon similar to the one second from left, topped by a little grass shack.
Paradise captured Don Severson admits to being a bit disappointed in 1997 after approaching Honolulu Academy of Arts director George Ellis about a joint book-exhibition project. Ellis envisioned a target date of 2002. Severson, who had been working on the book since 1995, thought it would be completed long before then and imagined himself at work on his next project.
on the page
By Nadine Kam
nkam@starbulletin.comWell, he miscalculated. Seven months after "Finding Paradise: Island Art in Private Collections" opened at the academy in April, the companion book finally makes its way to coffee tables this month, just in time for Christmas.
Weighing in at six pounds, it is certainly worth the wait, a beauty with 396 pages including 500 color illustrations and essays lovingly devoted to collectors of Hawaiiana. Easily the Hawaiiana book of the year, the work -- edited by Severson and the academy's Curator of Western Art Jennifer Saville, with photography by Michael Horikawa -- is also likely to become a benchmark publication in Hawaiiana studies.
"Finding Paradise" examines the material culture of Hawaii spanning the period of pre-Western contact to statehood, including objects owned by ali'i, indigenous art forms, post-contact paintings and a discussion of the 100 essential books published about the islands before the 19th century's end.
More importantly, rather than focusing on institutional holdings, Severson's goal was to focus on private collectors. The collaboration with the Honolulu Academy of Arts allows a rare occasion in which high-brow meets low-brow, though each is essential for telling the complete story about a people.
"I had originally envisioned focusing on private collections, not institutions, because anyone can go see what's in an institution," Severson said. "The book is really a tribute to collectors because they pick up on the things museums overlook. It's a synergistic relationship because museums eventually benefit from what collectors put together.
Robert Lee Eskridge's "Hukilau" (1940).
"Things a museum might consider beneath them today in a hundred years may be very collectible. Postage stamps, missionary stamps were not taken seriously at the time they were introduced; they were meant to be used and discarded, but early collectors put together collections that turned out to be very valuable."
In an example well known to kama'aina, a collection put together by local businessman and arts patron Thurston Twigg-Smith sold for about $9.8 million in 1995. One stamp alone was worth $2 million.
"The same thing happened in bottles," Severson said. "People thought bottle collectors were crazy, but once they started selling for thousands of dollars, people began to take notice."
Georgia O'Keeffe's "Heliconia" (1939), above, and "Hukilau" reflect the dominance of painting, prints and watercolors in Hawaiian art collections well into the 20th century. Both works are oils on canvas.
SEVERSON, OWNER of Tahiti Imports, and an engineer in a past life, has also been an appraiser of Hawaiiana, through Hawaiian Anti-quities, for 35 years. He became interested in Hawaiiana through his wife's family on Kauai.
"They had lots of old Hawaiian things around their house. They had a poi pounder holding the door open on the floor, calabashes. I started asking questions about the objects and some they could answer, some they couldn't, but I wanted to get the questions answered."
After researching the values of the objects they owned, the family no longer uses the poi pounder as a door stop.
Severson made friends with various specialists in jewelry, surfing, 'ukulele, quilts, ceramics and other collectibles, who he also called upon to write essays that comprise the book's 17 chapters. The contributors are DeSoto Brown, Watters O. Martin, Jr., Derek McDonnell, Loretta G. Woodard, Carol Anne Dickson, Heather Horn, Tamara Moan, Bruce Erickson, Don Medcalf, Michael Pfeffer, Chuck Fayne, Dan Pincetich, Brandon Severson and Hawaiian cultural historian Roger G. Rose.
Locating collectors and photographing their collections took a couple of years, Severson said.
Modern wearable art in "Finding Paradise" include Isami Doi's coral brooches mounted in gold and Ming's mask brooch.
The richness of Hawaiian-themed memorabilia found reflects Hawaii's hold on those here and abroad. "Hawaii is a very special place," Severson said. "People come here on vacation, and once they leave -- it may not be by choice -- they always want to take a piece of Hawaii with them."
The book's collection of images starts with the first illustrations of Hawaiian people by John Webber, the official artist on Captain James Cook's third Pacific voyage from 1776 to 1780.
Later, there are examples of Hawaiian quilts, 'ukulele and surfboards, including one by Joe Quigg made of balsa wood in 1949, designed for women and featuring an unlikely image of a skeleton.
The rise of the tourism industry led to a rise in souvenir making as California manufacturers caught on to Hawaiiana during the cruise era of the 1930s. This led to an explosion of floral motif ceramic ware and hula figurines.
The examination of modern and at times kitschy objects was beneficial to the academy as well.
A hula girl lamp with a fringed skirt that hides the mechanism that makes the figure dance.
"The objects we own and collect are mirrors of what our interests are and what anyone values at a point in history," Saville said, mentioning she became interested in the spoon phenomenon of the late 19th and early 20th century. The simple objects offered perhaps the earliest glimpse of tourism's impact on Hawaii as people flocked over by boat as early as the 1880s to check out the Big Island's volcanic eruptions. Eventually, the objects they collected helped shape others' perceptions of paradise.
She said the exhibition and book "gave us an opportunity to deepen our understanding in fundamental areas. We don't have surfing memorabilia per se but we have prints of people surfing, and bringing the two together reminds us how cultural history is part of understanding art history. It really does come together."
The project was so huge, at one point Severson considered presenting "Finding Paradise" in two volumes, but ended up squeezing it into one. Is he ready to start working on a followup project?
"I think I'll leave that for someone else," he said.
The Royal Order of the Star of Oceania, Commander Cross, was created by King David Kalakaua in 1886 to honor those who promoted Hawaii in the Pacific.
By Don Severson, Michael Horikawa and Jennifer Saville (Honolulu Academy of Arts/University of Hawai'i Press), 396 pages, hardcover, $79.95. 'Finding Paradise:
Island Art in Private Collections'Details: Book arrives in book stores Nov. 22; pre-sale orders are being taken at the Honolulu Academy of Arts Shop, Native Books and Beautiful Things, Bookends in Kailua, Bishop Museum Shop Pacifica and Bestsellers bookstores. Those who place a pre-sale order will also receive a box set of notecards featuring etchings by John Kelly.
Book signing: 1:30 to 4:30 p.m. Dec. 8 at the Academy Shop. From 1:30 to 2:30 p.m., the authors will mingle and answer questions. At 2:30 p.m. the signing begins. Admission is free.
Mailing: Books ordered through the Academy Shop may be shipped to mainland or "Finding Paradise" neighbor island locations by Priority Mail for an additional fee of $10.
Call: Academy Shop, 532-8703; from the neighbor islands or the mainland, call toll free 800-829-5211. Book orders may also be placed by phone with the use of a Mastercard, Visa, American Express or JCB credit card.
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