Mauna Kea Galleries

Mauna Kea Galleries – Featured Artists

by Mauna Kea Galleries

As purveyors of fine Hawaiian art and antiques, Mauna Kea Galleries maintains one of the largest inventories of vintage Hawaiian paintings in the world. Mauna Kea Galleries’ featured artists include Charles W. Bartlett, D. Howard Hitchcock, Jules Tavernier, Madge Tennent, and Lionel Walden.

Charles W. Bartlett – Charles W. Bartlett commenced his career as a chemist but shifted his professional focus to art at the age of 23. Over the course of his career, Charles W. Bartlett traveled to many locales around the world, including Holland, Japan, and eventually, Hawaii. A noted portraitist, Charles W. Bartlett honed several distinctive styles using mediums such as watercolors and woodblock printing.

D. Howard Hitchcock – Born in Hawaii, D. Howard Hitchcock became famous for his paintings of Hawaii’s diverse landscape. Most well known for his large, mural-size paintings, D. Howard Hitchcock toured the Hawaiian Islands extensively making a study of their intricacies. Although he went through a number of different style transformations, D. Howard Hitchcock ultimately returned to that for which he was most famous: conservative impressionism.

Jules Tavernier – A former student at the École des Beaux-Arts, Paris-born artist Jules Tavernier was an Illustrator for a variety of magazines, including Harper’s Weekly, Scribner’s, and Appleton’s. Known primarily for his breathtaking paintings of volcanoes, Jules Tavernier first arrived in Hawaii in 1884, where he spent the remaining five years of his life painting depictions of Hawaii’s most scenic spots.

Madge Tennent – Prior to her arrival in Hawaii in 1923, Madge Tennent demonstrated an impressive artistic talent and attended art schools in South Africa and France. Madge Tennent’s marriage brought her to locations such as New Zealand, British Samoa, and Australia, where she continued to fine-tune her skills. After taking up residence on the Islands, Madge Tennent garnered acclaim as a portrait artist, specializing in children. Heavily inspired by artists such as Paul Gauguin, Madge Tennent developed a distinctive style that was showcased at numerous exhibitions and galleries around the world.

Lionel Walden – American artist Lionel Walden is well known for his beautiful seascapes. Though he traveled throughout the world exhibiting his art, Lionel Walden spent much of his time in Hawaii, often working with fellow artists such as D. Howard Hitchcock to produce murals for public buildings. In addition to seascapes, Lionel Walden also painted landscapes, some of which featured volcanoes. To view Mauna Kea Galleries’ diverse catalogue of paintings and art, visit www.maunakeagalleries.com.

Madge Tennent

One of the featured artists at Mauna Kea Galleries is Madge Tennent, born Madeline Cook. After being raised in England, Tennent moved to South Africa at the age of 5 and then to Paris at age 13. Her parents, who recognized their daughter’s extraordinary talent, arranged for Tennent to study figure drawing with William Bouguereau while in Paris. In her 20s, Tennent returned to South Africa and married Hugh Cowper Tennent.

A New Zealander, Tennent’s husband first moved her to his home country before accepting a position in the government of British Samoa. While in Polynesia, Tennent became fascinated with the area’s culture and art. In 1923, the Tennents were passing through Hawaii on their way to England, but were persuaded to stay. In order to supplement her husband’s income, Tennent began painting portraits of local children while she developed her own style of painting Hawaiian women, drawing inspiration from artists like Gauguin.

Tennent became popular by showing her work at the Honolulu Academy of Art. Although her art is still displayed frequently in Honolulu, it has also been featured in exhibits in London, Paris, New York, Chicago, and San Francisco. At the height of her career, Tennent’s artwork was the main oil painting exhibit at the Contemporary Arts Center’s Honolulu Advertiser Gallery in 1968.

Tennent, however, had stopped painting a few years earlier due to her failing health. Tennent ultimately passed away 7 years later in Honolulu at the age of 78. She has since remained an iconic Hawaiian artist distinguished by her unique style and inspiring interpretations of Hawaiian femininity.

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Polynesia: The Mark and Carolyn Blackburn Collection of Polynesian Art

Set to be released this summer, Polynesia: The Mark and Carolyn Blackburn Collection of Polynesian Art explores the pieces collected by the owners of Mauna Kea Galleries in Honolulu, Hawaii. Authored by Adrienne L. Kaeppler and published by the University of Hawaii Press, Polynesia offers a glimpse into one of the world’s greatest private collections of Polynesian art. Covering a vast geographical area, all Polynesian art is linked by common artistic conventions and intentions. The collection presented in Polynesia comes from New Zealand, the Austral Islands, the Cook Islands, Fiji, Futuna, Hawaii, Malden Island, Easter Island, Rennell Island, Samoa, Tahiti, Tonga, and the Tuamotus, among other locations. Many of the pieces featured in the Mark and Carolyn Blackburn collection have significant historical links, which Kaeppler endeavors to explore in full. For example, Polynesia: The Mark and Carolyn Blackburn Collection of Polynesian Art presents items associated with an 18th century Captain Cook voyage and material associated with Dupetit-Thouars and the Marquesas. Previously undocumented, these items are laboriously documented and annotated with the collector and scholar in mind. The collection includes paintings, drawings, engravings, photographs, essays, and artifacts, all of which are presented in their cultural and historical context. Kaeppler takes care to respect the aesthetic, social, and religious traditions associated with all pieces of the collection, making them easily comprehensible for the modern reader. An invaluable look at a significant collection, Polynesia takes a complicated, widespread, and powerful genre of art and makes it accessible to the casual reader while maintaining an appeal for the dedicated scholar or knowledgeable collector.

About Mauna Kea Galleries!

Mark Blackburn is a senior certified appraiser and has been buying, selling, and appraising collectibles for more than 30 years. Mark Blackburn brings his experience appraising for New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art and Honolulu’s Bishop Museums to the items in the Mauna Kea Galleries Collection. Mark Blackburn’s wife, Carolyn Blackburn, founded Mauna Galleries in 1995, and the company remains one of the most prominent sources for Hawaiian collectibles and treasures of all kinds. Rare items including hula lamps, restaurant menus, classic surfboards, and hula dolls attract thousand of visitors to Mauna Kea Galleries’ Honolulu showroom each year. Locals and tourists alike have been amazed by Mauna Kea Galleries’ vast selection of island ephemera. Mauna Kea Galleries sells several varieties of fine Hawaiian apparel and jewelry, from vintage Hawaiian shirts to earrings and necklaces made by Polynesian craftsmen. In addition to their historical value, antique souvenirs and collectables, like postcards and posters, lend vintage charm to a Hawaiian vacation and are often stunning additions to any room’s decor. Hawaiian and Polynesian paintings round out Mauna Kea Galleries’ extensive inventory. Works by John Kelly, D. Howard Hitchcock, and Jules Tavernier are regularly available at Mauna Kea Galleries. Collectors can learn more about Mauna Kea Galleries at www.maunakeagalleries.com.

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