Herb Kawainui Kāne
Herb Kawainui Kāne | |
|---|---|
| Born | June 21, 1928 Marshfield, Minnesota, US |
| Died | March 8, 2011 (aged 82) South Kona, Hawaiʻi |
| Other names | Herbert Kawainui Kane |
| Alma mater | School of the Art Institute of Chicago (BA), (MA) |
| Occupation(s) | Artist, historian, author, architect |
| Known for | Hawaiian historical and cultural paintings and writings, Polynesian Voyaging Society (co-founder), Hōkūleʻa (designer) |
| Television | The Wayfinders: A Pacific Odyssey (advisor) |
| Board member of | Native Hawaiian Culture & Arts Program, Bishop Museum (founding trustee) |
| Awards | Charles Reed Bishop Medal (1998), Living Treasures of Hawai'i (1984) |
Herbert Kawainui Kāne (June 21 1928 – March 8 2011) was an American artist and historian of Hawaiian ancestry. He is considered a key figure in the renaissance of Hawaiian culture of the 1970s. His work focused on the seafaring traditions of the ancestral peoples of Hawaiʻi.
Kāne showed that Hawaiian culture did not spring up by chance from drifting canoes of Polynesia; rather, Hawaiʻi was reached—and its voyaging canoes were able to return—through intentional journeys from Tahiti. This suggested a more complex concept of the cultures of the Pacific Islands than previously accepted.
Kāne created imagery of Hawaiian culture prior to contact with Europeans, as well as the period of early European influence, inspiring appreciation of traditional life. He painted views of war, such as The Battle of Nuʻuanu, the potential of conflicts between cultures such as in Cook Entering Kealakekua Bay, where British ships were dwarfed and surrounded by Hawaiian canoes, as well as quotidian scenes and images of ceremonial and spiritual life, that helped arouse pride among Hawaiians during a time of cultural awakening.