Kānaka - "People"

Photo courtesy

G. Brad Lewis

Early Tourist at Volcano

By David Miranda © 2009

cont'd from "Facilities"

Reciprocity was signed between Washington, D.C. and the Hawaiian Kingdom and ratified by Kalaukaua. It enabled sugar plantations to prosper and the supporting merchant industries and shipping agents thrived. Western businessmen and some of the Hawaiian ali’i became wealthy, although the common peoples who were often taken advantage of; did not. With wealth came modern (for that period) houses and the desire to lavish them with art of various sorts. Locally produced art began to emerge; in part due to a tax on imported goods levied by the Hawaiian legislature of 1876. Soon, an influx of professional artist from western galleries was establishing itself in the islands driven in large part by the natural beauty of tropical vegetation and dramatic island scenery. There was a market for paintings that depicted scenes of distant places; whether pyramids or natural wonders like waterfalls, the snowcapped summits of Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa and incredible scenes of volcanic activity. Just as western artist were painting scenes of the Grand Canyon or the American Desert; the new resident artists were filling canvases with fantastic images of Kīlauea’s lava lake, of island life and scenery and of  some of Hawaiʻi’s royalty.

cont'd on "Support TVP"

David Howard Donald

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