The Volcano School refers to a group of non-native Hawaiian artists who painted dramatic nocturnal scenes of Hawaii’s erupting volcanoes. Some of the artists also produced watercolors, which, by the nature of the medium, tended to be diurnal. Two volcanoes on the 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...

, Kilauea

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...

 and 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...

, were intermittently active during the 1880s and 1890s, when interest in Volcano School paintings peaked. Getting to Kilauea

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...

, the more frequently painted volcano required an arduous two or three day roundtrip journey on horseback.

Printmaker and art educator Huc-Mazelet Luquiens

Huc-Mazelet Luquiens

Huc-Mazelet Luquiens was an American printmaker, painter and art educator who was born June 30, 1881 in Massachusetts to French-speaking Swiss parents. He graduated from Yale University where he received training in art, earning both a bachelor of arts and master of fine arts degrees...

 called this period “a little Hawaiian renaissance”.

Members

Jules Tavernier

Jules Tavernier (painter)

Jules Tavernier was a French painter. He was born in Paris in 1844 and died in Honolulu, Hawaii, in 1889. He studied with the French painter, Félix Joseph Barrias , but left France in the 1870s, never to return. Tavernier was employed as an illustrator by Harper's Magazine, which sent him on...

 (French 1844-1889) was arguably the most important Volcano School painter. Other artists include Ernst William Christmas (Australian 1863-1918), Constance Fredericka Gordon Cumming

Constance Gordon-Cumming

Constance Frederica “Eka” Gordon-Cumming was a travel writer and painter. She was born on 26 May 1837 at Altyre, near Forres in Scotland, the 12th child of a wealthy family. Her parents were Sir William Gordon-Cumming, 2nd Baronet, and Elizabeth Maria Cumming. She was the aunt of Sir William...

 (Scottish 1837-1924), Charles Furneaux

Charles Furneaux

Charles Furneaux was born in Boston and became a drawing instructor in that area. For many years he lived in the town of Melrose, Massachusetts. In 1880, Furneaux moved to Hawaii, where he cultivated the friendship King Kalakaua and other members of the Hawaiian royal family, from whom he later...

 (American 1835-1913), D. Howard Hitchcock (American 1861-1943), Ogura Yonesuke Itoh

Ogura Yonesuke Itoh

Ogura Yonesuke Itoh was a Japanese-American artist. He was born in Japan in 1870. At 25 years of age, he jumped ship in Hawaii and hid from the authorities in Punchbowl Crater. He became a member of Hawaii’s volcano school of landscape painters. Ogura is considered to be the first ethnically...

 (Japanese 1870-1940), Ambrose McCarthy Patterson

Ambrose McCarthy Patterson

Ambrose McCarthy Patterson was a painter and printmaker born in Daylesford, Australia on 29 June 1877. He studied the Melbourne Art School under E...

 (Australian 1877-1966), Titian Ramsey Peale

Titian Peale

Titian Ramsay Peale was a noted American artist, naturalist, entomologist and photographer. He was the sixteenth child and youngest son of noted American naturalist Charles Willson Peale.-Biography:...

 (American 1799-1885), Louis Pohl

Louis Pohl

Louis Pohl was an American painter, illustrator, art teacher, printmaker and cartoonist. He was born in Cincinnati, Ohio in 1915. A childhood illness made it impossible to walk without pain and prevented Louis from entering school until he was 8 years old. To keep Louis occupied, his parents...

 (American 1915-1999), Eduardo Lefebvre Scovell

Eduardo Lefebvre Scovell

Eduardo Lefebvre Scovell was a British artist who was born on August 26, 1864. Following his education at Eton College and the University of Cambridge, Scovell studied art in Paris. He then traveled extensively, including one year in Rome and Florence. Several years were spent in India, China...

 (British 1864-1918), William Pinkney Toler

William Pinkney Toler

William Pinkney Toler was born in Caracas, Venezuela on Dec. 23, 1826, the son of an American diplomat. Toler was educated in Washington, D.C. and joined the United States Navy at age 14. As a midshipman on the United States under the command of Commodore Thomas Gatsby Jones, he hoisted the...

 (American 1826-1899), William Twigg-Smith

William Twigg-Smith

William Twigg-Smith was a New Zealand-born painter, illustrator and musician, who lived most of his life in Hawaii. During World War I, he was one of the first artists to serve in the American Camouflage Corps.-Early life:...

 (New Zealander 1883-1950), Joseph Dwight Strong

Joseph Dwight Strong

Joseph Dwight Strong, Jr. was an artist from the United States.-Life:Joseph Dwight Strong was born September 15, 1853 in Connecticut....

 (American 1852-1899) and Lionel Walden

Lionel Walden

Lionel Walden was born in Norwich, Connecticut in 1861. He first became interested in art in Minnesota, where the family moved when his father became rector of an Episcopal Church there. As a young man, Walden moved to Paris where he studied painting with Carolus-Duran. In around 1893-97,...

 (American 1861-1933).

A selection of Volcano School paintings is usually on display at the Honolulu Academy of Arts

Honolulu Academy of Arts

The Honolulu Academy of Arts is an art museum in Honolulu in the state of Hawaii. Since its founding in 1922 by Anna Rice Cooke and opening April 8, 1927, its collections have grown to over 40,000 works of art.-Description:...

.

Related work

Although the American landscape painter Frederic Edwin Church

Frederic Edwin Church

Frederic Edwin Church was an American landscape painter born in Hartford, Connecticut. He was a central figure in the Hudson River School of American landscape painters...

 produced similar paintings of Ecuador’s Cotopaxi Volcano

Cotopaxi

Cotopaxi is a stratovolcano in the Andes Mountains, located about south of Quito, Ecuador, South America. It is the second highest summit in the country, reaching a height of...

during and after visits in 1853 and 1857, he is not considered a member of this group and he never visited the Hawaiian Islands.