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HoMA Selects

There’s always more to art than meets the eye. HoMA Selects is a way for museum curators and other staff to share stories, fun facts, and behind-the-scenes insight on HoMA’s permanent collection.

Browse HoMA Selects for new perspectives on HoMA works—some that may be familiar, and others that may be entirely new to you. It's a great way to explore  the museum’s collection of world-class art. 

HoMA Selects | Waterfall – No. III – ‘Īao Valley

Pineapples express(ed)—or not: Georgia O’Keeffe’s private protest in Hawai‘i

HoMA Selects | Waistcoat

This unique garment—a waistcoat independent of a coat and breeches (and therefore sometimes called an odd vest)—is often considered the precursor of today’s vest. Its delicate embroidery and fine mate…

HoMA Selects | “The Wheel” by Satoru Abe

One of the most esteemed and accomplished artists in Hawai‘i, Satoru Abe made The Wheel, the second in a series of three, after returning home from his second trip to New York City in 1970. An importa…

HoMA Selects | The Torchlight Fisherman Waikiki

Lionel Walden first came to Hawai‘i in 1911—by way of Paris—and developed a passion for painting seascapes and local scenes of fishing and surfing. He is one of several twentieth-century artists from …

HoMA Selects | The Coming of Autumn

The Coming of Autumn by the 17th-century Buddhist monk Hongren is the most celebrated Chinese landscape in HoMA’s collection. Visitors who enjoy the rare opportunity to view this scroll might think it…

HoMA Selects | Takako Irie on Couch

Artist Nakamura Daizaburō (1898–1947) painted this folding screen for the 11th Japan Fine Arts Exhibition in 1930. The lovely model for the painting was Irie Takako (1911–1995), a Japanese actress fro…

HoMA Selects | Soundsuit by Nick Cave

As their collective title suggests, the element of sound is integral to Chicago-based artist Nick Cave’s Soundsuit sculptures. Soundsuit 8:46 was made in response to George Floyd’s murder by police in…

HoMA Selects | Secretary by Duane Hanson

Although Duane Hanson modeled his hyper-realistic sculptures after real people, Secretary has a mysterious past—we don’t know who the model was, or if she even worked as a secretary. The word “secreta…

HoMA Selects | Sagabon

Some of the earliest and most elegant Japanese texts printed from movable type were sagabon, or books produced in Kyoto’s Saga district in approximately 1615. HoMA is fortunate to possess a number of …

HoMA Selects | “Rio” by Sam Gilliam

Among the artists Sam Gilliam considered his guides—Expressionist pioneer Emil Nolde, and Washington Color School contemporaries Morris Louis and Tom Downing—perhaps the most surprising is saxophone l…

HoMA Selects | Flowers of resilience: Nakabayashi Chikutō’s “Plum Blossoms”

Plum blossoms (Prunus mume), known for their pastel colors, fragrance, and overall sense of delicacy, are popular symbols of femininity in many cultures. It therefore might be surprising to learn that…

HoMA Selects | Palm Sunday

Born in Brussels, Alfred Stevens spent most of his career in Paris, and in the 1860s became renowned for his paintings of elegantly dressed Parisian women in domestic settings. Stevens created four ve…

HoMA Selects | Nandi Head

Anonymous. Perhaps no word appears more in museum labels around the world. “Not identified by name.” Many artworks fit this definition, especially those that have survived long enough for their makers…

HoMA Selects | Mrs. Thomas Lincoln Manson, Jr.

Today, we shape our own narratives through digital images and social media. In the late 1800s, instead of selfie sticks and photo shoots, people had their portraits painted. An extremely popular artis…

HoMA Selects | Mary Cassatt

Artist Mary Cassatt’s life was different than most of her middle-class contemporaries of the mid- to late-19th century. Rather than marry and have children, she dedicated herself to the life of an art…

HoMA Selects | Li Huayi

Repeat visitors to HoMA might recognize Pine Trees and Spring from the 2019 exhibition Contemporary Landscapes: Li Huayi. The exhibition borrowed paintings from private collections around the globe, b…

HoMA Selects | Le Chinois

In 1867, Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux, one of the most celebrated French sculptors of the 19th century, received a major commission from the city architect of Paris for a monumental sculpture topping a foun…

HoMA Selects | Ku‘u Hae Aloha (My Beloved Flag)

Representing governments, institutions, ideologies, or individuals, flags are often revered objects. The symbol of the Hawaiian flag, which has flown unchanged through five separate forms of governmen…
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