HONOLULU ACADEMY OF ARTS Volume Four December - 1936 Bulletin Four

Portrait of a Gentleman Sir Henry Raeburn

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CALENDAR December

To Dec. l,-,Fifth International Print show.

To Dec. 20,-,Mayan, Aztec and Peruvian art.

To Jan. 3,-,Exhibition of Japanese art.

l ,-, 8:00 p.m.,-, "Art of Ancient Peru," by Dr. A. E. Metraux.

2,-,10 :30 a.m. ,-, Honolulu Art Society "Small Home" series.

3,_, 4 :00 p .m.,-,Public phonograph concert, central court.*

3 to Dec. 31 ,-, Honolulu Printmakers' annual exhibition.

6,-, 4:30 p.m.,-,Concert, Academy Chamber Music Ensemble.

8,-, 3 :30 p.m. ,-,Concert by Junior Musicians of Honolulu.

8 to Dec. 20,-, Flower paintings by Beatrice White Miller.

9,-,10 :30 a.m.,-,Honolulu Art Society "Small Home" series.

13,_, 4 :30 p.m.,-,Public concert by Lyric Ensemble.

15 to Jan. 3,_,Christmas exhibition, main gallery.

20,-, 5 :00 p.m.,-,Morning Music Club carol singing.

22,-, 5 :00 p.m.,-,Children's Christmas play.

22 to Jan. 3,-,Exhibition of 1936 accessions.

22 to Jan. 24,-, Pacific Islands carving , exhibition.

January

2 to Jan. 17 ,-,Color prints by Elizabeth Keith.

3,_, 4 :30 p.m.,-,Concert, Academy Chamber Music Ensemble.

5 to Feb. 17 ,-,Modern textiles, Marshall Field Studio.

5 to Feb. 28,-, Exhibition of Chinese art.

13,-,10 :30 a.m.,-,Honolulu Art Society "Small Home" series.*

17 ,_, 4 : 30 p.m.,-, Public violin recital , Mariette Simpson.

19 to Jan. 31,-, Honolulu Art Society Hawaiian Monarchy show.

19 to Jan. 31,-, Hawaiiana prints, Donald Angus collection.

19,_, 3 :30 p.m.,-,Honolulu Art Society, music for children.

26,-, 8 :00 p .m.,-, Honolulu Art Society music program.

26 to M ar. 7 ,_, Exhibition of M elanesian art.

February

2 to Feb. 28- Prints by Rembrandt, Rosenwald collection.

* One of a series, given each week at the same hour.

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Doat P assing a Lock J ohn Co n stab le

A RECENT GIFT TO THE ACADEMY

In October it was the good fortune of the Honolulu Academy of Arts to acquire, through a generous donor, five paintings which fill what were hitherto large gaps in the collection of European painting. The group of five do not belong to any one school but include British, Spanish, Flemish, and French pictures.

By far the most important is the "Boat Passing a Lock" by John Constable. I ts significance lies not only in the intrinsic beauty of the painting itself which has all of the freshness , the cool, delicate color and the peculiar sense of intimacy for which Constable was famed, but also because it is a good example of Constable's mature style which was to have such an important bearing on the future devel~

opment of painting. John Constable, who lived from 1776 to 1837, was a

great innovator dominated by a passionate love of nature.

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In fact, most of his innovations came from a compelling desire to interpret the nature to which he felt so close. In one of his letters to a friend he says that there are "two modes by which men aim at distinction ( in art) . In the one, by a careful application to what others have accom,.., plished, the artist imitates their works or selects and com,., bines their various beauties. In the other he seeks excel,., lence at its primitive source-nature." Or again, speaking about "The Lock" -"My 'Lock' is liked at the Academy ( Royal Academy) ... and its light cannot be put out because it is the light of nature .... "

Constable was, in a sense, a self,..,taught artist. His father, an eminently practical man, had no desire to see his son take up such an unprofitable profession as paint,., ing. Hence his first teacher was a plumber who painted as a hobby. Even after he went to the Royal Academy, he spent most of his time copying old masters. It was Rem,., brandt, Gainsborough and Rubens who taught him how to handle paints and brushes. At the same time he went out to the fields to paint nature as he saw her. That in itself was a new departure in the days when a landscape was a certain formula painted in a studio with a bath of brown under,..,paint to unify the "harsh" colors of reality. Con,., stable was criticized severely for the results of this out,..,of,.., door painting which, according to his critics, lacked the dignity that nature should have. The freshness and reality of his paintings, however, made a great stir among the French painters and were a powerful influence on Rous,., seau and Daubigny, from whom sprang the impressionists and much of our so,..,called modern art.

"The Lock" was painted for the Royal Academy in 1824 and sold for 150 guineas to Mr. Robert Morrison. Three copies of this were made by Constable himself who changed the composition somewhat. As far as I have been able to find out, the first painting presented at the

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The Adoration of the Kings Attributed to Adraen I senbrant

Academy was a vertical composition. In 1825 he made two copies which seem to have been composed horizon,., tally like the one in the collection of the Academy of Arts.* The style of this painting bears out that date. The glaze is soft and delicate, the impasto is not too thick and bears definite relation to the structure of the forms por,.., trayed.

Constable once said of his art, "It flatters nobody by imitation, it courts nobody by smoothness, it tickles no,., body by petiteness, it is without fal,..,de,..,lal or fiddle,..,de ,.., dee. How then can I hope to be popular?" Popular he was not in his time and yet today the Academy considers itself fortunate to have in its collection a work of the first great realist-the first man to paint actual objects in real

* C. J. Holmes, "Constable and his Influence on Landscape Paint~ ing, " Westminster, 1902, p. 247.

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scenes and to give them that intimacy and sense of locality which makes this painting so very convincing.

"The Portrait of a Gentleman" by Sir Henry Raeburn , 1756-1823, which appears on the cover of this Bulletin, is another example of the British school of painting, although Raeburn himself was a Scotchman. As far as I know, the gentleman in this picture has not been identified. This is not unusual, however, since Raeburn is said to have painted over one thousand portraits.*

Raeburn, with Reynolds, Gainsborough and Romney, is one of the great portrait painters of England. He was born in Stockbridge just outside of Edinburgh in 1756 and was apprenticed at an early age to Martin, a jeweler and por­trait painter, who initiated him into the art of painting. His work in the 18th century reflects the delicacy and ele­gance of the times. Early in the 19th century it becomes more solid and heavy.

As a portrait painter, especially in his later periods, Raeburn used the simplest of means, often omitting the customary landscape background and using an extremely direct pose. As a contrast to Constable, who paints every detail with almost equal emphasis, Raeburn focuses all the attention on one point of interest, such as the face of the sitter, drawing out with an extraordinary insight and vital­ity the character of the individual before him.

The Academy's painting although undated would seem to belong to the period of his more mature work. Its style is broad and simple. It has something of the solidity and sobriety of the portrait of himself painted in 1815. In this case the painting should date in the late 18th or early 19th century. It is a worthy companion to the Sir Joshua Reynolds which now hangs in the English room.

Another important painting included in this generous gift is a Flemish triptych showing the "Adoration of the

* Helen Comstock, "Reynolds, Gainsborough, Raeburn," Interna~ tional Studio, vol. 81, p. 244.

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St. Francis Before the Cross Bartolome Esteban Murillo

Kings" attributed to Adraen lsenbrant, a painter of the 16th century, who was one of the pupils of Gerard David. It is impossible to verify this attribution with the material at hand. In any case the painting would seem to be Flem-­ish of a date closely corresponding to that of Isenbrant.

The Madonna is seated with the child at the right of the central panel. Two Kings, one presenting his gift and

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one kneeling in an attitude of adoration, fill the left of the panel. In the right panel is St. Joseph and in the left one the young Moorish King. The typical rolling landscape of Flemish painting, peopled with small figures and buildings, forms a background to all three panels.

The painting has unfortunately been badly restored and the two boards which make up the central panel have split apart. It is, however, a good example of painting of the northern Renaissance and in contradistinction to the Academy's Early Italian triptych, shows the northern artists' interest in realism and the more humanistic attitude of the later Renaissance, whether northern or southern.

A small painting of St. Francis before the Cross, attrib~ uted to Bartolome Esteban Murillo, l 618~ 1682, is the example of the Spanish school.

Murillo is generally associated with his vaporous, sweet, and sentimental Madonnas. There was a time, however, early in his life, about 1642, when he went to Madrid to study under Velasquez, and to copy pictures of Ribera. Their influence on the young Sevillian painter produced something like reality in his painting. His outlines are clear and the light and shade are used distinctly and definitely. His color in this period is often dark or monochromatic.

Murillo's earliest work, after his studies at Madrid, was a series of paintings for the Francescan Monastery in Seville, the subj~ct being eleven episodes from the legend of St. Francis. In these there is a characteristic intermin~ gling of realism and emotion. Reproductions of those paintings are not available here, but from their description they seem similar to the Academy's painting which would belong, then, to his early period called by some the Estilo Frio or the cold manner. This painting is not included in the list of those in the Francescan Monastery.

The French painter, Camille Corot, l 796~ 1875, is im~ portant also in the development of landscape painting. Corot painted in at least two major styles. One is precise,

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solidly formed and soundly composed, while the other is more popular, sentimental and fuzzy in outline such as the "Dance of the Nymphs." This latter style produced "pot~ boilers,·· but does injustice to the real masterpieces upon which his great fame rests.

His paintings are so easily and freely done that one is apt to overlook the fine composition, calling it a happy accident. There are, however, too many such "accidents" in his work for this to be a consistent evaluation.

The sketch acquired by the Academy is a small one done, evidently, rather late in Corot's life, but showing the charm which he always saw in nature and his unerring sense of composition even in a small work.

It is interesting to note the difference between his atti~ tude and that of Constable. Corot subordinated everything in his compositions to the main element, here the man in the boat. Constable, on the other hand, painted everything with great care and almost equal emphasis, one of his weaknesses as a builder of pictorial space.

These paintings will be shown in the exhibition of ac~ cessions for 1936 during the last two weeks of December.

,......,E, C. S.

Landscape Camille Corot

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EPSTEIN'S "SHULAMITE WOMAN"

Jacob Epstein has said, "A vital work must shake the spectator out of a state of complacency and produce something more than the easy and meaningless words 'beautiful' or 'lovely' that are so simply a qualification for the obvious." * Probably no contemporary sculptor has caused more public comment with each new exhibition of his work than Epstein. The critics have often taken the attitude that he has deliberately tried to shock. Although there is no banal prettiness or superficial elegance in his sculpture, it is powerful, thoughtfully ·conceived and shows an eloquent appreciation of the materials used. In none of his work do we feel that he has tried to horrify or make concessions to his spectators , but rather that he has worked sincerely to please himself.

The storm centers of most of these controversies have been his monumental pieces, often abstract in their inter,... pretation, as "Day and Night," for the Underground Building in London, the Hudson Memorial in Hyde Park, and "Genesis."

Less abstract, showing his growing interest in a " closer expression of humanity" are his bronze portrait busts , one of which, "The Shulamite Woman," has recently been presented to the Academy by six friends ( who selected it at the artist's studio in London) .

In spite of the relaxed position of the model, there is a living quality to the statue. The mysterious , hollow eyes, the sharply defined nose with its tense nostrils , the sensi ,... tive mouth, the forward thrust of the jaw give a vitality to the figure that is augmented by the turbulent mass of hair that falls between the shoulders after clinging closely to the forehead , where it has outlined the boney form of the head.

* Epstein and Haskell, "The Sculptor Speaks," Windmill Press, 1931, p. 135.

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The Shulamit'e Woman Jacob Epstein

Epstein has used his characteristic rough surface to the bronze which is often distressing to the observer. In the previously quoted book Epstein says, " It is this rough surface that gives both the character and likeness to the face, not just the rough surface as such. but the particular

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individual treatment. No face is entirely round and smooth. The face is made up of numberless small planes and it is a study of where these planes begin and end, their direction, that makes the individual head .... The reflec­tion of the light would play havoc with all the sculptor's effects, while the rough surface breaks up the light and accentuates the characteristics, giving life to the work."

,......,K, M. ].

EXHIBITIONS FOR SCHOOLS The following special exhibitions for schools are an­

nounced for the months of December, January and Feb­ruary: December 1 to Dec. 12,....... The Japanese home.

15 to Dec. 19,....... Japanese crafts. 15 to Dec. 27 ,.....,Christmas exhibition. January 5 to Jan. 15,....... Transportation, land and sea: models of early trains,

coaches and ships. 5 to Jan. 22,-,Spanish art.

19 to Jan. 29,-,Polynesian life and art: woodcarving , canoe models, and weaving.

26 to Feb. 12,.......Elizabethan England and the Shakespeare theatre. February 2 to Feb. 12,....... Exhibition of weaving: looms, materials. 2 to Feb. 14,-,Marco Polo exhibition.

23 to Mar. 5,-,Life and art in Melanesia : woodcarvings from N ew Guinea and tapas from Fiji.

23 to Mar. 7,....., The Chinese Home.

Chinese Bronze and Jade Dagger Shang Dynasty

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HONOLULU ART SOCIETY

The Honolulu Art Society announces the following committees for the year 1936-1937:

E x hibitions : Mrs. Livingston Jenks, Chairman, Mrs. Paul Foley and Mr. George Moody. Extension: Mrs. Isaac M. Cox, Chairman, Mrs. Mitsuhara Hoshino, Mrs. Shao Chang Lee, Mrs. Colin Lennox and Miss Gloria Williams. Finance: Mr. E . White Sutton, Chair~ man, Mr. J. Russell Cades. Membership: Mrs. Arthur Greenwell , Chairman, Mrs. Harold Boynton, Mrs. Charles Chillingworth, Mrs. C. H . Edmondson, Mrs. Mitsuhara Hoshino, Mr. Robert Stimpson, Mrs. Daizo Sumida and Mrs. Richard Tongg. Music: Mr. Robert Vetlesen, Chairman, Mr. J. Russell Cades, Mr. W. Harold Loper, Mrs. Geoffrey Podmore and Mrs. Atherton Richards. Study Interests: Mrs. G. J. Watumull, Chairman, Mrs. Philip Platt and Mrs. George Sueoka.

MEMBERS WHO HAVE JOINED SINCE AUGUST, 1936

CONTRIBUTING MEMBERS

Chapman, Dr. Royal N . Larsen, Mrs. Nils P.

ANNUAL MEMBERS Anderson, Mrs. Hannah E . Appleton, Dr. Vivian B. Baker, Mr. and Mrs. Percy A. Bartlett, Miss Rosalind Blake, Mrs. A.G. S. Bond, Mrs. J. Douglass Brown, Mrs. Arthur Butler, Miss Florence H . Caricof, Mr. and Mrs. F. E. Conrad, Mr. Conrad W. Cook, Mrs. George E. Cooper, Mrs. John W. Cowles, Mrs. M. A. Craig, Mrs. Mollie Danford, Mrs. Robert Ena, Miss Mabel Fleming, Miss Margaret E. Fricks, Mrs. L. D . Greenwell, Mrs. W . A. Herter, Dr. W . B. Hoag, Mrs. J. A.

Keim, Mrs. Minnie F. Knight, Mrs. John G. Laing, Mrs. Marion Murphy, Miss Jane S . Neal , Mrs. George F. Parrott, Mrs. R. S. Pettee, Miss Sarah Ramsey, Mrs. W. A. Silverthorn, Mr. Henry Simmons, Mr. Clark Smith, Mrs. Gordon Smith, Comdr. and Mrs. Roy C. Spurkel, Miss Hallye F. Stench, Mrs. S. W . Taylor, Mrs. E. J. Turrell, Miss Ruth Valentine, Mrs. A. van der Flier, Madame H. Williams, Mrs. Charles Williams, Miss Gloria M . Williams, Mrs. Mervin

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Young Dauphin R eturning from the Hunt

PERMANENT COLLECTION

GIFTS

Anonymous,......,5 oil paintings : John Constable, "Boat Passing a Lock"; Camille Corot, "Landscape"; attributed to Adraen Isenbrant, "The Adoration of the Kings"; Bartolome Esteban Murillo, "St. Francis Before the Cross"; Sir Henry Raeburn, "Portrait of a Gentleman."

Mr. and Mrs. W . H . Baird,......,Silver fish server, Georgian period.

Mr. and Mrs. C. H. Cooke,......, Pair of Chinese Chippendale sconces.

Mrs. Richard A. Cooke,......,Oil painting : Vigee Le Brun, "Young Dauphin Returning from the Hunt. "

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Family of the late Mrs. C. M. Cooke-Capehart phonograph and collection of records.

LIBRARY

GIFTS Miss H. E. A. Castle-Orcutt: "The Moffatt Ladd house; Spry :

Flower decoration; White : Principles of flower arrangement.

Mrs. Theodore A. Cooke-Hsia Kuei : Ten thousand li of the Yangtze.

Lilienfeld galleries- Wedderkop : Paul Cezanne.

Mr. Rudolph Schaeffer- Schaeffer : Flower arrangement.

Mrs. Philip E . Spalding-Ricci : Dessins du dix~huitieme siecle , callee~ tion Albert Meyer.

Mr. J. H . W eitzner-Weitzner : A selection of paintings.

PRINT DEPARTMENT

GIFTS Dr. and Mrs. C. M. Cooke-Drypoint : Armin Hansen, "Large Pier."

Mr. Y . Nomura-Japanese woodblock color prints-Anonymous, re~ productions of Fujiwara painting, illustrated by 122 prints showing different states of printing.

PURCHASES Buff, Conrad-Lithograph : "Forest Folk."

SCHOOL LOAN DEPARTMENT

GIFTS C. Alfred Castle Memorial-Seamark painting : Conrad Buff, "Mexi~

can Girl with Sheep."

Mrs. Theodore A. Cooke-35 photographs of Chinese ceramics.

Miss Emma Garrison-An example of modern needlework.

Mr. Takeo Gima-Russian scarf of handwoven linen.

Mrs. Philip E . Spalding-2 watercolors : J. W. Taylor, "April in Hatch Hollow"; Verge Sarrat, "Vue de l'Isle d'Oleron"; oil painting : J. Alden, "Farm in Winter"; woodblock color print : Charles W. Bartlett, "Silk Merchant, India"; Chinese cart; Sicilian wine cart ; Chinese quartz seal.

PURCHASES Objects-Korean screen, mattress, pillows, table, spoons, chopsticks,

bamboo pipe and scrolls.

P ainting-Fresco : Marguerite Blasingame, "Girl's Head."

P rints-5 lithographs of cats by Jacques Nam.

Slides-75 illustrations of Oriental and Occidental art.

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HONOLULU ACADEMY OF ARTS TELEPHONE 6281 900 SOUTH BERETANIA STREET HONOLULU, T.H.

BOARD OF TRUSTEES DR. C. MONTAGUE CoOKL ... ... ..... .... . ........ ... ... .. ............................ President MRS. THEODORE RICHARDS ......... ....... .................... ....... ...... ... Vice-President MR. CLARENCE H. CooKE ...................................... ...................... Treasurer MR. THEODORE A. CooKE ............................................ Assistant Treasurer

Mrs. Philip E. Spalding Mrs. Isaac M. Cox Mrs. Theodore A. Cooke Mr. Richard A. Cooke Mrs. Stephen A. Derby Mrs. Alva E . Steadman Mrs. Livingston Jenks Mr. Edgar C. Schenck

THE STAFF EDGAR C. ScHENCK ..... ....... ... ..................... .... ...................... Acting Director DOROTHY R. SCHENCK ............................................... .Educational Director KATHRINE McLANE JENKS ................................. ......................... Consultant ELIZABETH THESMAR WATSON ........................ /nstructor in Creative Art ALYCE HooGs .............. ....................................... .lnstructor in Oriental Art MARGARET HOCKLEY KAI... ....... ..................... ./ nstructor in Primitive Art ANN J. CoRBETT ....................................................... .Educational Assistant ALICE F. PooLE .................................................................. Keeper of Prints MARION MORSE ............. ................................................................... Librarian BIM MELGAARD .................................................... Secretary to the Director MARVEL N. ALLISON ........................................................ Editor of Bulletin GEORGE W. DuNCAN ............ .... ...................... Superintendent of Building

EDUCATIONAL DEPARTMENT The loan collection, for all teachers, contains pictures, slides,

phonograph records, textiles, and a range of objects for the study of different cultures. Teachers who wish to bring classes to the Academy for talks by staff members may arrange for them by telephoning the educational office. Instruction in art and crafts is given to children during the two semesters of the school year and for a six-weeks' term in summer. The classes are held after school hours on week days and on Saturdays.

LIBRARY AND PRINT DEPARTMENT Books and current magazines on art may be had for study by

the public, during Academy hours, in the reference library. The privi­lege of taking out certain books is extended to members of the Hono­lulu Art Society only. Membership cards may be obtained in the library. All prints in the collection are available, by appointment, in the print study room.

ACADEMY HOURS Sunday ........... ....... .. 3 p.m.-6 p.m. Thursday ............... .10 a.m.-9 p.m. Tuesday ................. .10 a.m.-5 p.m. Friday ..................... .10 a.m.-5 p.m. Wednesday ............ 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday ................. .10 a.m.-5 p.m.

Admission is free. Staff members will conduct visitors through the Academy if desired. Wheel chairs are available. Bulletins, pub­lished quarterly, are free. Copies will be mailed upon request.

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