Nawahi Painting on Antiques Roadshow

Received via email... The Antiques Roadshow episode featuring this painting by Joseph Nawahi will air on Jan. 8th, Monday night at 8 p.m., and the painting and its appraisal can currently be viewed on their website—click Hawaiian "gold" link on the right.

Hauoli Makahiki Hou:

Just passing on some interesting information for all of you that have some connection to Hawaii. Jackie is my high school classmate. This is part of a Christmas newsletter her husband sent to his family (she's embarrassed, I guess locals don't do this) but so many people have asked her about it and she's losing track of who she told).

In Aug., we had one of our most astounding experiences of the year, when the PBS Antiques Roadshow came to Hawaii for the first time. We brought our 1888 painting of Hilo Bay by Joseph Nawahi in for appraisal.

They only choose about 50 items or 1% of the 5000 attendees, to film for the subsequent 3 shows, and not only was our painting selected for filming, it was given the highest estimate of the day at $100,000-$150,000, primarily because of the historical importance of Nawahi. We have spent 20 years learning about him, but even most Hawaiians are still unaware of him, so we had some doubts that the Roadshow appraisers would be knowledgeable, but the internet is an amazing resource for them!

He was a self-taught painter and lawyer, an educator, a publisher, a member of the Hawaiian Legislature for many years, and also Queen Lili'uokalani's principal adviser, who also authored the new Constitution she tried to implement to return lost control to the throne, and which caused the haole business interests to overthrow the Hawaiian Kingdom and place her under arrest. A total Renaissance man, Nawahi has been described as Hawaii's "Ben Franklin" in his importance to Hawaiian history.

[ Read the rest in the extended entry... ]

Update 1/14: Advertiser story on the painting and the fascinating figure of Joseph Nawahi.

Only 5 known paintings of his are known to exist: 2 small paintings of the front and rear of the Volcano House in the Lyman Museum, Hilo; a 12" x 18" view of Hilo Bay at the Mission Houses Museum in Honolulu; then ours, a 12" x 30" panorama of Hilo Bay, painted in 1888, and finally, a 20" x 36" 1860's view of Hilo Bay, which turned up in a Boston auction in 1999, went through several hands and was subsequently sold to a private collector on the big island for ca $400,000 (which the Roadshow appraiser wasn't aware of).

We immediately got it out of the house to a safe place (after the filming, they put a policeman by our side continuosly until we got out to our car and drove away).

It was clear to us that it no longer was ours, but belonged to the larger Hawaiian community, but what to do with it? We have since decided to donate it to Kamehameha Schools, through their Ke Alii Pauahi Foundation, which funds college scholarships for Hawaiian students, so it's value will now go towards helping Hawaiian students further their aspirations to become 21st century Joseph Nawahi's. The painting is now in their vaults, but first I had a high resolution digital scan made of it, from which we made a same size archival Giclee print on canvas, so we still have a virtual replica of the painting at home that we can still enjoy.

Before K.S., could officially receive it, they had to have a professional appraisal done of it's fair market value, and they used a local appraiser/dealer of high-end 19c Hawaiian paintings, who placed its current fair market value at $450,000!!!

Kamehameha Schools is in the process of building a new $8 mill. Haw'n Cultural Center on the Kapalama Campus, which will include a beautiful 2 story building where they will display their many Hawaiian treasures, and our painting will become a central part of that exhibit. Meanwhile, since that project will not be completed for several years, the Honolulu Academy of Arts have agreed to accept it on a temporary loan for public display until K. Schools are ready for it.

So it's a super win-win all around: the Hawaiian community will have public access to it and we're hoping a portion of its value will fund a bunch of new scholarships. And all that for an obscure painting we found in a big island antique shop in 1984 (not 70s as Jackie erroneously recalled) for $395 which we couldn't afford but bought anyway. So, watch the Roadshow on PBS for the start of this amazing adventure, it leads off the new season on January 1st with the 3 episodes they shot in Hawai´i. Jackie will be on Jan. 8th, Monday night at 8pm (Hawaii's schedule, check in your own locale). She's got trepidations about watching it, embarrassed that she broke into tears. I told her unresponsive people are boring!

Also Kamehameha Schools are hosting a Ho'omaika'i and blessing ceremony on Jan. 16, 4pm on the campus, near the chapel and the new Cultural Center site. The painting will be on view on campus from Jan. 17-26. This will be one week after the Roadshow episode, so should be pretty relevant, but we've been surprised at how many people we talk to don't watch the Antiques Roadshow or know who Joseph Nawahi is.

Posted: Thu - January 4, 2007 at 12:17 PM

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Nawahi Painting on Antiques Roadshow

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