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New Honolulu Museum of Art exhibit features iconic landmarks and people of the 1850s

Lithographs depicting King Kamehameha III’s funeral procession are part of the Honolulu Museum of Art’s new exhibit.
Jayna Omaye at the Honolulu Museum of Art
/
HPR
Lithographs depicting King Kamehameha III’s funeral procession are part of the Honolulu Museum of Art’s new exhibit.

A new exhibit at the Honolulu Museum of Art will feature the city’s iconic landmarks, businesses and people of the 1850s.

About 30 prints, watercolors and drawings are part of the “Mauka to Makai, Honolulu Cityscapes of the 1850s.” It will also include portraits and other works of the Kamehameha dynasty.

“The idea of this exhibit is landscape. And so, in our original thoughts about it, we think about the landscape of Honolulu and how it's changed. Most of the works are landscapes, not all of them are. Some depict specific events,” said Tory Laitila, the museum’s curator of textiles and historic arts of Hawaiʻi.

“Just to see the change in the landscape from mid-19th century to today, I mean, Honolulu was a very active and growing modern center in the 1850s. We had a lot of the facilities established then that we still have today.”

Lithographs of King Kamehameha III's funeral procession are stored in a large black box to preserve and protect them.
Jayna Omaye
/
HPR
Lithographs of King Kamehameha III's funeral procession are stored in a large black box to preserve and protect them.

One noteworthy part of the exhibit, he said, is a set of lithographs that depict King Kamehameha III’s funeral procession. The 30-foot-long piece of work, dated 1855, has a key on the first page that lists everyone who attended the somber event.

Laitila said the exhibit is a way to mark the 150th anniversary of Kamehameha Day this year.

Catherine Whitney, the museum’s director of curatorial affairs, said pairing images of Kamehameha III’s funeral procession and other works of Hawaiian royalty with landscapes is key to understanding our history.

“I think having the funeral procession in there with figures, different community members from all walks of life really sort of brought it to human terms,” she said. “So, we look at these historic documents and these historic landmarks, and we can actually imagine what it was like to live in at that time.”

Lithographs depicting King Kamehameha III's funeral procession are part of the Honolulu Museum of Art's new exhibit.
Honolulu Museum of Art
/
HPR
Lithographs depicting King Kamehameha III's funeral procession are part of the Honolulu Museum of Art's new exhibit.

The exhibit opens Thursday, July 14, and will be on display through Oct. 16. It is included with general admission to the museum, and no additional reservations or tickets are required.

Museum officials also plan to host other related events that accompany the exhibit.

For more information, click here.

Jayna Omaye was a culture and arts reporter at Hawaiʻi Public Radio.
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