Herb Kawainui Kane
Encyclopedia
Herbert "Herb" Kawainui Kāne (June 21, 1928 – March 8, 2011), considered one of the principal figures in the renaissance of Hawaiian culture
in the 1970s, was a celebrated artist-historian and author with a special interest in the seafaring traditions of the ancestral peoples of Hawaii
. Kāne played a key role in demonstrating that Hawaiian culture arose not from some accidental seeding of Polynesia, but that Hawaii was reachable by voyaging canoes from Tahiti
able to make the journey and return. This offered a far more complex notion of the cultures of the Pacific Islands than had previously been accepted. Furthermore, he created vivid imagery of Hawaiian culture prior to contact with Europeans, and especially the period of early European influence, that sparked appreciation of a nearly forgotten traditional life. He painted dramatic views of war, exemplified by The Battle at Nuuanu Pali, the potential of conflicts between cultures such as in Cook Entering Kealakekua Bay, where British ships are dwarfed and surrounded by Hawaiian canoes, as well as bucolic quotidian scenes and lush images of a robust ceremonial and spiritual life, that helped arouse a latent pride among Hawaiians during a time of general cultural awakening.
and Hilo on the Big Island of Hawaii
. His mother’s family were farmers of Danish ancestry in Wisconsin
. Kāne’s childhood was divided between Wisconsin and Hawaii. He describes in his book, Voyagers, an early awakening to art. In 1935 he was a barefoot child in Hilo, Hawaii, brought by his mother to the opening of a gallery exhibition of the work of D. Howard Hitchcock
. He writes that he was “stunned, confronted with miracles” seeing Hitchcock’s work and speaking with him briefly. Hitchcock was the first Hawaiian-born artist to achieve international recognition, and his work focused on unique Hawaiian subject matter, particularly the volcanic eruptions near Hilo. According to his own account, besides this exposure to art and the ongoing encouragement of his parents to pursue his interest in drawing, Kāne’s most formative experiences in childhood were in Hawaii, where his father and his family passed along the traditional folk tales of the islands.
Kāne served in the United States Navy
, qualifying for veteran’s educational benefits under the G.I. Bill. After he was discharged, he used those benefits to attend the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, in Chicago, Illinois, earning a Bachelor’s degree and, in 1953, a Master’s degree. Under an arrangement between the two schools at the time, his Master’s degree was awarded by the University of Chicago
.
Kāne had been sailing a racing catamaran
on Lake Michigan
, and had begun researching Hawaiian canoes in the library of the University of Chicago and in the Field Museum of Natural History
, where in 1961 the museum had installed one of the most extensive collections of artifacts from Pacific Ocean cultures put on view to that date. Kāne produced a series of 14 paintings of Polynesia
n canoes in the 1960s, which were purchased in 1969 by the Hawaii State Foundation of Culture and the Arts, then headed by its first director, Alfred Preis
, architect of the USS Arizona Memorial
in Pearl Harbor
, Oahu
, Hawaii. Kāne has stated that this purchase made it possible for him to move to Hawaii, where he lived in Honolulu and continued his study of Polynesian voyaging canoes.
anthropologist Ben Finney
and Tommy Holmes, author of The Hawaiian Canoe. Together they founded the Polynesian Voyaging Society
and began work on the Hōkūle‘a
, a voyaging canoe based on historical Polynesian design, capable of sailing between Hawaii and Tahiti
. Their purpose was to prove that ancestral Polynesian voyagers could have purposely navigated in vessels of similar type to colonize Hawaii. Kāne has said his goal was also to spur a revival of cultural identity among Hawaiians and peoples of the Pacific islands. He wrote that in 1973 he, with a number of others at the time, realized that “if a voyaging canoe were built and sailed today, it would function as a cultural catalyst and inspire the revival of almost-forgotten aspects of Hawaiian life.”
Kāne designed and named the Hōkūle‘a, which was launched on March 8, 1975. Technically, the craft is a performance-accurate full-scale replica of a waʻa kaulua, a Polynesian double-hulled voyaging canoe. The name Hōkūle‘a came to Kāne in a dream, he has said. It is the Hawaiian term for the star Arcturus, which is of critical importance to celestial navigation in the Pacific, and the zenith
star of the Hawaiian Islands. He served as the skipper for two years as the canoe sailed trial cruises among the Hawaiian Islands to attract crew and support for its maiden international voyage.
Kāne’s role in the creation and promotion of the Hōkūle‘a helped restore pride to the peoples of the Pacific, and his paintings of traditional Hawaiian scenes and historical events have helped restore lost identity and, in the words of the President of School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Tony Jones, “rewritten the history of the Pacific.” Kāne’s colleague, Nainoa Thompson
, navigator of the Hōkūle‘a, says Kāne was "the visionary, the dreamer, and he was the architect and the engineer. He's the one that carried the burden of building, and constructing, and sailing Hōkūle‘a.” Elsewhere, Thompson told an interviewer, “When you look at Herb’s legacy, it is transforming Hawaii’s society because he brought pride and culture and inspiration back, through the canoe….He is the father of the Hawaiian Renaissance.”
Kāne died on March 8, 2011, the 36th anniversary of the launch of the Hōkūle‘a.
, United States Senator from Hawaii, has been quoted as saying, “when you saw a Herb Kāne painting, you were energized and motivated to learn about the past. …His artwork captured both ancient and modern-day Hawaii and help preserve Hawaii's unique culture for future generations.” Kāne became one of the most respected figurative painters in Hawaii, with major works on view at the Bishop Museum
, the largest museum in the state and the premier natural and cultural history institution in the Pacific. His work has been exhibited at Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park and in the Hawaii State Capitol
. His paintings of Polynesian sailing have been widely reproduced, appearing as illustrations in books and articles. Among the first of these were a series of seven paintings commissioned by the National Geographic Magazine and published in the December 1974 issue.
His art is characterized by emphasis on realistic and precise draftsmanship when depicting historical scenes, such as his series of voyaging canoe paintings and many other paintings of battles, everyday domestic life, and ceremonial occasions, which are extensively researched. When Kāne turns his imagination to the legends of old Hawaii and the spiritual and mythological side of the Hawaiian culture, his work is more expressionistic, with bold brushwork and vivid colors. His expressionistic style is seen in his painting Pele, Goddess of the Volcano for the Jaggar Museum at Kīlauea
, which depicts the supernatural figure with literal fire in her eyes and flowing lava as her hair.
. Kāne was commissioned by the National Park Service in 1976 to paint "Keoua's Arrival", which is on permanent display in the Visitor Center at Puʻukoholā Heiau National Historic Site. Several of his large canvasses are on permanent view at the Outrigger Hotel in Waikiki
in Honolulu, where the management dedicated the area as a permanent tribute to Kāne.
One 1973 site-specific mural, painted on a custom-designed wall as part of a history center under construction (and never completed) at Punaluu Beach, twice gained notoriety. The historical mural, titled Ancient Punaluu, Hawaii Island measured 24 feet (7.3 m) wide by 10 feet (3 m) high. According to a news report, "The mural shows alii, warriors and commoners on the black sandbar, which separates Punaluu Bay from a pond where springs provide fresh water immediately behind the beach.....A ceiling of thatch gave the feeling of being inside an old Hawaiian shelter and the thatch hid lighting, which gave a natural, daylight look to the mural. Pebbles and sand at the base of the painting met real pebbles and sand on the floor of the history center." In 1975 the mural survived a tsunami that destroyed the interior of the building. According to Kāne’s account on his personal blog, quoting eyewitnesses, the wave pushed all the displays out the far side of the room and left a mud line three or four feet high on the wall—except on the mural, which was dry and undamaged. Then in 2005 the mural was stolen from the site, which was vacant and unfinished. Thieves are believed to have cut out the wall in five sections using a circular saw powered by a portable generator, and in this way stole the painting, which has never been recovered. Kāne responded by recreating a version of the mural in oil paint on canvas, saying, “Now all the thieves have is a preliminary sketch. Vengeance is mine.”
(a migratory bird which winters in Hawaii), and a volcano erupting on the flank of Mauna Loa
, on the Big Island of Hawaii. On the day of its release, sales of this stamp set a new record for the U.S. Postal Service. His 2009 stamp for the State’s 50th anniversary depicts a person surfing and people paddling a traditional outrigger canoe
, all riding the same wave. This stamp engendered some controversy, as Kāne was highly critical of the typography in the final design, which he felt mistakenly substituted an apostrophe
for the symbol that signals a glottal stop in the word Hawaii and is known by the term ‘okina
. He also designed postage stamps for several Pacific island nations, including French Polynesia
, the Federated States of Micronesia
, as well as the Republic of the Marshall Islands.
Kāne is illustrator of:
Online interviews include:
Hawaiian Renaissance
The First and Second Hawaiian Renaissance was the Hawaiian resurgence of a distinct cultural identity that draws upon traditional kānaka maoli culture, with a significant divergence from the tourism-based "culture" which Hawaii was previously known for worldwide .-First Hawaiian...
in the 1970s, was a celebrated artist-historian and author with a special interest in the seafaring traditions of the ancestral peoples of Hawaii
Hawaii
Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...
. Kāne played a key role in demonstrating that Hawaiian culture arose not from some accidental seeding of Polynesia, but that Hawaii was reachable by voyaging canoes from Tahiti
Tahiti
Tahiti is the largest island in the Windward group of French Polynesia, located in the archipelago of the Society Islands in the southern Pacific Ocean. It is the economic, cultural and political centre of French Polynesia. The island was formed from volcanic activity and is high and mountainous...
able to make the journey and return. This offered a far more complex notion of the cultures of the Pacific Islands than had previously been accepted. Furthermore, he created vivid imagery of Hawaiian culture prior to contact with Europeans, and especially the period of early European influence, that sparked appreciation of a nearly forgotten traditional life. He painted dramatic views of war, exemplified by The Battle at Nuuanu Pali, the potential of conflicts between cultures such as in Cook Entering Kealakekua Bay, where British ships are dwarfed and surrounded by Hawaiian canoes, as well as bucolic quotidian scenes and lush images of a robust ceremonial and spiritual life, that helped arouse a latent pride among Hawaiians during a time of general cultural awakening.
Early life and education as an artist
Kāne (ˈkɑːneɪ) was born in the rural community of Marshfield, Minnesota in the United States. His father’s family were taro farmers in the Waipio ValleyWaipio valley
Waipio Valley is a valley located in the Hamakua District of the Big Island of Hawaii. "Waipio" means "curved water" in the Hawaiian language.It was the capital and permanent residence of many early Hawaiian alii up until the time of King Umi...
and Hilo on the Big Island of Hawaii
Hawaii (island)
The Island of Hawaii, also called the Big Island or Hawaii Island , is a volcanic island in the North Pacific Ocean...
. His mother’s family were farmers of Danish ancestry in Wisconsin
Wisconsin
Wisconsin is a U.S. state located in the north-central United States and is part of the Midwest. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michigan to the northeast, and Lake Superior to the north. Wisconsin's capital is...
. Kāne’s childhood was divided between Wisconsin and Hawaii. He describes in his book, Voyagers, an early awakening to art. In 1935 he was a barefoot child in Hilo, Hawaii, brought by his mother to the opening of a gallery exhibition of the work of D. Howard Hitchcock
David Howard Hitchcock
David Howard Hitchcock was an American painter of the Volcano School, known for his depictions of Hawaii.-Life:David Howard Hitchcock was born May 15, 1861 in Hilo, Hawaii. Since his father was also named David Howard Hitchcock , he generally went by D...
. He writes that he was “stunned, confronted with miracles” seeing Hitchcock’s work and speaking with him briefly. Hitchcock was the first Hawaiian-born artist to achieve international recognition, and his work focused on unique Hawaiian subject matter, particularly the volcanic eruptions near Hilo. According to his own account, besides this exposure to art and the ongoing encouragement of his parents to pursue his interest in drawing, Kāne’s most formative experiences in childhood were in Hawaii, where his father and his family passed along the traditional folk tales of the islands.
Kāne served in the United States Navy
United States Navy
The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...
, qualifying for veteran’s educational benefits under the G.I. Bill. After he was discharged, he used those benefits to attend the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, in Chicago, Illinois, earning a Bachelor’s degree and, in 1953, a Master’s degree. Under an arrangement between the two schools at the time, his Master’s degree was awarded by the University of Chicago
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...
.
Early career
He became a successful graphic designer in Chicago, working as a commercial artist in advertising, and later managing his own design business specializing in book and magazine illustration and architectural renderings. Kāne said he found advertising work unsatisfying. “The end came when I won a Jolly Green Giant campaign, and for a year, did drawings and paintings of that big green fairy until I could no longer suffer it.”Kāne had been sailing a racing catamaran
Catamaran
A catamaran is a type of multihulled boat or ship consisting of two hulls, or vakas, joined by some structure, the most basic being a frame, formed of akas...
on Lake Michigan
Lake Michigan
Lake Michigan is one of the five Great Lakes of North America and the only one located entirely within the United States. It is the second largest of the Great Lakes by volume and the third largest by surface area, after Lake Superior and Lake Huron...
, and had begun researching Hawaiian canoes in the library of the University of Chicago and in the Field Museum of Natural History
Field Museum of Natural History
The Field Museum of Natural History is located in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It sits on Lake Shore Drive next to Lake Michigan, part of a scenic complex known as the Museum Campus Chicago...
, where in 1961 the museum had installed one of the most extensive collections of artifacts from Pacific Ocean cultures put on view to that date. Kāne produced a series of 14 paintings of Polynesia
Polynesia
Polynesia is a subregion of Oceania, made up of over 1,000 islands scattered over the central and southern Pacific Ocean. The indigenous people who inhabit the islands of Polynesia are termed Polynesians and they share many similar traits including language, culture and beliefs...
n canoes in the 1960s, which were purchased in 1969 by the Hawaii State Foundation of Culture and the Arts, then headed by its first director, Alfred Preis
Alfred Preis
Alfred Preis designed the USS Arizona Memorial in Pearl Harbor.Preis, who was born in Austria, and lived in Honolulu was detained for three months at the Sand Island Detainment Camp in Hawaii after the December 7, 1941 attack as part of the internment policy of Japanese and German Americans.The...
, architect of the USS Arizona Memorial
USS Arizona Memorial
The USS Arizona Memorial, located at Pearl Harbor in Honolulu, Hawaii, marks the resting place of 1,102 of the 1,177 sailors killed on the USS Arizona during the Attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941 by Japanese imperial forces and commemorates the events of that day...
in Pearl Harbor
Pearl Harbor
Pearl Harbor, known to Hawaiians as Puuloa, is a lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. Much of the harbor and surrounding lands is a United States Navy deep-water naval base. It is also the headquarters of the U.S. Pacific Fleet...
, Oahu
Oahu
Oahu or Oahu , known as "The Gathering Place", is the third largest of the Hawaiian Islands and most populous of the islands in the U.S. state of Hawaii. The state capital Honolulu is located on the southeast coast...
, Hawaii. Kāne has stated that this purchase made it possible for him to move to Hawaii, where he lived in Honolulu and continued his study of Polynesian voyaging canoes.
The Hōkūle‘a and its cultural impact
In Honolulu, Kāne attracted a group of sailing enthusiasts, including University of HawaiiUniversity of Hawaii
The University of Hawaii System, formally the University of Hawaii and popularly known as UH, is a public, co-educational college and university system that confers associate, bachelor, master, and doctoral degrees through three university campuses, seven community college campuses, an employment...
anthropologist Ben Finney
Ben Finney
Ben Rudolph Finney is an American anthropologist known for his expertise in the history and cultural and social anthropology of surfing, Polynesian navigation and canoe sailing, and in the cultural and social anthropology of human space colonization...
and Tommy Holmes, author of The Hawaiian Canoe. Together they founded the Polynesian Voyaging Society
Polynesian Voyaging Society
The Polynesian Voyaging Society is a non-profit research and educational corporation based in Honolulu, Hawaii. PVS was established to research and perpetuate traditional Polynesian voyaging methods...
and began work on the Hōkūle‘a
Hokulea
Hōkūlea is a performance-accurate full-scale replica of a waa kaulua, a Polynesian double-hulled voyaging canoe. Launched on 8 March 1975 by the Polynesian Voyaging Society, she is best known for her 1976 Hawaii to Tahiti voyage performed with Polynesian navigation techniques, without modern...
, a voyaging canoe based on historical Polynesian design, capable of sailing between Hawaii and Tahiti
Tahiti
Tahiti is the largest island in the Windward group of French Polynesia, located in the archipelago of the Society Islands in the southern Pacific Ocean. It is the economic, cultural and political centre of French Polynesia. The island was formed from volcanic activity and is high and mountainous...
. Their purpose was to prove that ancestral Polynesian voyagers could have purposely navigated in vessels of similar type to colonize Hawaii. Kāne has said his goal was also to spur a revival of cultural identity among Hawaiians and peoples of the Pacific islands. He wrote that in 1973 he, with a number of others at the time, realized that “if a voyaging canoe were built and sailed today, it would function as a cultural catalyst and inspire the revival of almost-forgotten aspects of Hawaiian life.”
"What intrigued me was to see, if by building this canoe and putting it to active use and taking it out on a cruise throughout the Hawaiian islands, introducing it to the Hawaiian people, training Hawaiians to sail it, if this would not stimulate shock waves or ripple effect throughout the culture- in music and dance and the crafts. And we know it did.”
Kāne designed and named the Hōkūle‘a, which was launched on March 8, 1975. Technically, the craft is a performance-accurate full-scale replica of a waʻa kaulua, a Polynesian double-hulled voyaging canoe. The name Hōkūle‘a came to Kāne in a dream, he has said. It is the Hawaiian term for the star Arcturus, which is of critical importance to celestial navigation in the Pacific, and the zenith
Zenith
The zenith is an imaginary point directly "above" a particular location, on the imaginary celestial sphere. "Above" means in the vertical direction opposite to the apparent gravitational force at that location. The opposite direction, i.e...
star of the Hawaiian Islands. He served as the skipper for two years as the canoe sailed trial cruises among the Hawaiian Islands to attract crew and support for its maiden international voyage.
Kāne’s role in the creation and promotion of the Hōkūle‘a helped restore pride to the peoples of the Pacific, and his paintings of traditional Hawaiian scenes and historical events have helped restore lost identity and, in the words of the President of School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Tony Jones, “rewritten the history of the Pacific.” Kāne’s colleague, Nainoa Thompson
Nainoa Thompson
Charles Nainoa Thompson is a Native Hawaiian navigator and the executive director of the Polynesian Voyaging Society...
, navigator of the Hōkūle‘a, says Kāne was "the visionary, the dreamer, and he was the architect and the engineer. He's the one that carried the burden of building, and constructing, and sailing Hōkūle‘a.” Elsewhere, Thompson told an interviewer, “When you look at Herb’s legacy, it is transforming Hawaii’s society because he brought pride and culture and inspiration back, through the canoe….He is the father of the Hawaiian Renaissance.”
Kāne died on March 8, 2011, the 36th anniversary of the launch of the Hōkūle‘a.
Art works
Daniel InouyeDaniel Inouye
Daniel Ken "Dan" Inouye is the senior United States Senator from Hawaii, a member of the Democratic Party, and the President pro tempore of the United States Senate making him the highest-ranking Asian American politician in American history. Inouye is the chairman of the United States Senate...
, United States Senator from Hawaii, has been quoted as saying, “when you saw a Herb Kāne painting, you were energized and motivated to learn about the past. …His artwork captured both ancient and modern-day Hawaii and help preserve Hawaii's unique culture for future generations.” Kāne became one of the most respected figurative painters in Hawaii, with major works on view at the Bishop Museum
Bishop Museum
The Bishop Museum , is a museum of history and science in the historic Kalihi district of Honolulu on the Hawaiian island of O'ahu...
, the largest museum in the state and the premier natural and cultural history institution in the Pacific. His work has been exhibited at Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park and in the Hawaii State Capitol
Hawaii State Capitol
The Hawaii State Capitol is the official statehouse or capitol building of Hawaii in the United States. From its chambers, the executive and legislative branches perform the duties involved in governing the state...
. His paintings of Polynesian sailing have been widely reproduced, appearing as illustrations in books and articles. Among the first of these were a series of seven paintings commissioned by the National Geographic Magazine and published in the December 1974 issue.
His art is characterized by emphasis on realistic and precise draftsmanship when depicting historical scenes, such as his series of voyaging canoe paintings and many other paintings of battles, everyday domestic life, and ceremonial occasions, which are extensively researched. When Kāne turns his imagination to the legends of old Hawaii and the spiritual and mythological side of the Hawaiian culture, his work is more expressionistic, with bold brushwork and vivid colors. His expressionistic style is seen in his painting Pele, Goddess of the Volcano for the Jaggar Museum at Kīlauea
Kilauea
Kīlauea is a volcano in the Hawaiian Islands, and one of five shield volcanoes that together form the island of Hawaii. Kīlauea means "spewing" or "much spreading" in the Hawaiian language, referring to its frequent outpouring of lava. The Puu Ōō cone has been continuously erupting in the eastern...
, which depicts the supernatural figure with literal fire in her eyes and flowing lava as her hair.
Site-specific works
Kāne’s paintings include several very large canvasses or murals for hotel lobbies and similar public and commercial spaces. His 1973 mural, made of wool, titled Opening of the Pacific to Man, was designed for a space above the entrance to the Pacific Trade Center, on Alakea and King Streets in central Honolulu. It measures 11 feet (3.4 m) high and 43 feet (13.1 m) wide, and offers views of several voyaging canoes and a central monumental male figure holding a paddle. In the corner of the mural is a representation of the wayfarers chart, traditionally made of shells and sticks, in which islands and ocean swell patterns are encoded to assist the training of a navigator. As a design consultant, Kāne worked on resorts and visitor centers in Hawaii and the South Pacific, as well as a cultural center in FijiFiji
Fiji , officially the Republic of Fiji , is an island nation in Melanesia in the South Pacific Ocean about northeast of New Zealand's North Island...
. Kāne was commissioned by the National Park Service in 1976 to paint "Keoua's Arrival", which is on permanent display in the Visitor Center at Puʻukoholā Heiau National Historic Site. Several of his large canvasses are on permanent view at the Outrigger Hotel in Waikiki
Waikiki
Waikiki is a neighborhood of Honolulu, in the City and County of Honolulu, on the south shore of the island of Oahu, in Hawaii. Waikiki Beach is the shoreline fronting Waikīkī....
in Honolulu, where the management dedicated the area as a permanent tribute to Kāne.
One 1973 site-specific mural, painted on a custom-designed wall as part of a history center under construction (and never completed) at Punaluu Beach, twice gained notoriety. The historical mural, titled Ancient Punaluu, Hawaii Island measured 24 feet (7.3 m) wide by 10 feet (3 m) high. According to a news report, "The mural shows alii, warriors and commoners on the black sandbar, which separates Punaluu Bay from a pond where springs provide fresh water immediately behind the beach.....A ceiling of thatch gave the feeling of being inside an old Hawaiian shelter and the thatch hid lighting, which gave a natural, daylight look to the mural. Pebbles and sand at the base of the painting met real pebbles and sand on the floor of the history center." In 1975 the mural survived a tsunami that destroyed the interior of the building. According to Kāne’s account on his personal blog, quoting eyewitnesses, the wave pushed all the displays out the far side of the room and left a mud line three or four feet high on the wall—except on the mural, which was dry and undamaged. Then in 2005 the mural was stolen from the site, which was vacant and unfinished. Thieves are believed to have cut out the wall in five sections using a circular saw powered by a portable generator, and in this way stole the painting, which has never been recovered. Kāne responded by recreating a version of the mural in oil paint on canvas, saying, “Now all the thieves have is a preliminary sketch. Vengeance is mine.”
Stamps
Kāne’s work on a much smaller scale reveals his artistic versatility. Kāne designed seven postage stamps for the U.S. Postal Service including stamps commemorating each of the 25th and the 50th anniversaries of Hawaiian statehood. His 1984 stamp for the 25th anniversary of Hawaiian statehood depicts a double-hulled voyaging canoe, a Pacific Golden PloverPacific Golden Plover
The Pacific Golden Plover is a medium-sized plover.The 23–26 cm long breeding adult is spotted gold and black on the crown, back and wings. Its face and neck are black with a white border and it has a black breast and a dark rump. The legs are black...
(a migratory bird which winters in Hawaii), and a volcano erupting on the flank of Mauna Loa
Mauna Loa
Mauna Loa is one of five volcanoes that form the Island of Hawaii in the U.S. state of Hawaii in the Pacific Ocean, and the largest on Earth in terms of volume and area covered. It is an active shield volcano, with a volume estimated at approximately , although its peak is about lower than that...
, on the Big Island of Hawaii. On the day of its release, sales of this stamp set a new record for the U.S. Postal Service. His 2009 stamp for the State’s 50th anniversary depicts a person surfing and people paddling a traditional outrigger canoe
Outrigger canoe
The outrigger canoe is a type of canoe featuring one or more lateral support floats known as outriggers, which are fastened to one or both sides of the main hull...
, all riding the same wave. This stamp engendered some controversy, as Kāne was highly critical of the typography in the final design, which he felt mistakenly substituted an apostrophe
Apostrophe
The apostrophe is a punctuation mark, and sometimes a diacritic mark, in languages that use the Latin alphabet or certain other alphabets...
for the symbol that signals a glottal stop in the word Hawaii and is known by the term ‘okina
Okina
The okina, also called by several other names , is a unicameral consonant letter used within the Latin script to mark the phonetic glottal stop, as it is used in many Polynesian languages.- Geographic names in the United States :...
. He also designed postage stamps for several Pacific island nations, including French Polynesia
French Polynesia
French Polynesia is an overseas country of the French Republic . It is made up of several groups of Polynesian islands, the most famous island being Tahiti in the Society Islands group, which is also the most populous island and the seat of the capital of the territory...
, the Federated States of Micronesia
Federated States of Micronesia
The Federated States of Micronesia or FSM is an independent, sovereign island nation, made up of four states from west to east: Yap, Chuuk, Pohnpei and Kosrae. It comprises approximately 607 islands with c...
, as well as the Republic of the Marshall Islands.
Three-dimensional art
Although best known for his paintings, Kāne also produced limited-edition bronze sculpture and other three-dimensional works besides the Hōkūle‘a, which has been called his moving sculpture. His monumental bronze figure, The Young Kamehameha stands in Wailea, Maui.Publications
Kāne communicated his message of the importance of Hawaiian culture and its origins, in print (as author, publisher, and illustrator) and television. Kāne is the author of several books, including:- Canoes of Polynesia (1974) (portfolio of 12 lithographs with accompanying booklet)
- Voyage, the Discovery of Hawaii (1976)
- A Canoe Helps Hawaii Recapture Her Past in National Geographic Magazine, April, 1976
- PelePele (mythology)In the Hawaiian religion, Pele is the goddess of fire, lightning, wind, and volcanoes. She is a popular figure in many stories of ancient Hawaii known as Hawaiian mythology.-Legends:...
, Goddess of Volcanoes (1987)
- Voyagers (1991, 2nd edition 2006)
- Ancient Hawaii (1997)
Kāne is illustrator of:
- The Life and Times of John Young: Confidant and Advisor to Kamehameha the Great
- The Power of the Stone: A Hawaiian Ghost Story
- Christmas Time with Eddie KamaeEddie KamaeEddie Kamae is one of the founding members of Sons of Hawaii. He is a 'ukulele virtuoso, singer, composer, film producer and primary proponent of theHawaiian Cultural Renaissance.-Biography:...
and the Sons of HawaiiSons of HawaiiThe Sons of Hawaii was a Hawaiian musical group that popular to mainstream audiences from the 1960s through the 1990s.-History:In 1960 they opened at the Sandbox in Honolulu and were soon the highest paid Hawaiian group in the Islands...
(1977 album cover: Hawaii Sons HS-4004)
- Voyagers, The First Hawaiians (film directed and scored by Paul Csige, based on the 1976 book Voyage, The Discovery of Hawaii by Herb Kāne)
Online interviews include:
- Never Lost: Polynesian Navigation (The Offering)
- Ask the Experts: Herb Kawainui Kāne (The Wayfinders: A Pacific Odyssey) Kāne served as a member of the advisory panel for the 1998 independent film, The Wayfinders: A Pacific Odyssey, which was broadcast widely on television stations including those of the U.S. Public Broadcasting System.
Honors
- 1984—Named a Living Treasure of Hawaii by the Honpa Hongwanji Mission of Honolulu
- 1987 —One of 16 chosen as Pookela (Champion) for the Year of the Hawaiian Celebration
- 1988–1992 – A founding trustee of the Native Hawaiian Culture & Arts Program, Bishop Museum
- 1998 – Awarded Bishop Museum’s Charles Reed Bishop Medal
- 2002 – Received an award for excellence from The Hawaii Book Publishers Association
- 2008 – Awarded an honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts by the School of the Art Institute of Chicago