Honolulu Museum of Art presents Georgia O’Keeffe and Ansel Adams: The Hawai‘i Pictures an exhibition on view January 12, 2014 .
Both artists are famously associated with specific places—O’Keeffe is inextricably tied to the American Southwest and Adams is known for his photography of Yosemite National Park. Both artists also visited Hawai‘i at the height of their powers, and captured the islands’ extraordinary sense of place. The Hawai‘i Pictures reexamines each artist’s Hawaiian interlude to reveal that the islands profoundly moved them and had an enduring influence on their subsequent work.
The exhibition includes a selection of painting associated with O’Keeffe’s 1939 trip to Hawai‘i to create illustrations for print advertisements for the Hawaiian Pineapple Company (now the Dole Company). During her two-month stay, O’Keeffe visited O‘ahu, Maui, Kaua‘i, and Hawai‘i Island, painting dramatic coastlines, volcanic terrain, traditional tools, and exotic flora.
Adams’s photographs of Hawai‘i were also the result of a commission. He first visited the islands in 1948 to take photographs for a series on national parks for the Department of the Interior, and returned in 1957 for a commemorative publication for Bishop National Bank of Hawai‘i (now First Hawaiian Bank).
The exhibition travels to the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum in February 2014. www.honolulumuseum.org