Jean Charlot and Classical Hawaiian Culture
2006; Routledge; Volume: 41; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1080/00223340600652375
ISSN1469-9605
Autores Tópico(s)Asian American and Pacific Histories
ResumoClick to increase image sizeClick to decrease image size Notes 1 Caroline Klarr, ‘Painting paradise for a post-colonial Pacific: the Fijian frescoes of Jean Charlot’, PhD thesis, The Florida State University School of Visual Arts and Dance (Tallahassee 2005). Charlot visited Samoa and the Society Islands but did not develop subjects for his visual arts there. All unpublished materials cited are in the Jean Charlot Collection, Hamilton Library, University of Hawai’i, Honolulu (hereinafter JCC), (http://libweb.hawaii.edu/libdept/charlotcoll/about-coll.html). This site also includes published writings by and about Jean Charlot, reproductions of his art work, and repositories of The Jean Charlot Foundation (also accessible via the John Charlot Foundation website (http://www.hawaii.edu/jcf/)). 2 Eugène Goupil, quoted in John Charlot, ‘Jean Charlot as Paul Claudel's Ixtlilxóchitl, The Journal of Intercultural Studies, 17 & 18 (1990–91), 68. 3 John Charlot, ‘Jean Charlot and local cultures’, in Ethel Moore (ed.), Jean Charlot: paintings, drawings, and prints. Georgia Museum of Art Bulletin, 2:2 (1976), 26–35. 4 Eric S. Thompson, Maya Hieroglyphic Writing: an introduction (Norman 1960), 61. Linda Schele, a leader in the later successful effort to decipher Maya hieroglyphs, wrote that her interpretation of the architectural and artistic program of the Temple of the Warriors complex drew ‘heavily upon the skill and brilliance of Jean Charlot, an artist and iconographer’. Linda Schele and David Freidel, A Forest of Kings: the untold story of the ancient Maya (New York 1990), 502. 5 A listing of Jean Charlot's published and unpublished writings is being prepared for posting on the JCC website. See fn. 1. 6 Jean Charlot, ‘Guadalupe Posadas’, 1925, available online Jean Charlot, Textes Français: Œuvres en prose, ed. John Charlot, Marie-José Fassioto and Michelle Smith (http://www.hawaii.edu/jcf/French_articles/, accessed 24 Jan. 2006). 7 Idem, taped interview, 2 Apr. 1978, JCC. 8 Idem, ‘Réponse à Molina’, 1923, available online Jean Charlot, Textes Français (http://www.hawaii.edu/jcf/French_articles/, accessed 24 Jan. 2006). 9 John Charlot, ‘Jean Charlot's first fresco: The Massacre in the Main Temple’, 2001 (http://libweb.hawaii.edu/libdept/charlotcoll/J_Charlot/johncharlot.html, accessed 24 Jan. 2006). 10 Jean Charlot, taped interview, 7 Apr. 1978, JCC. 11 Ibid. 12 Ibid. 13 E.S. Craighill Handy, ‘The Hawaiian Family System’ Journal of the Polynesian Society, 59 (1950), 170–90; Idem and Mary Kawena Pukui, ‘The Hawaiian Family System’, Journal of the Polynesian Society, 60 (1951), 66–79; Idem, ‘The Polynesian Family System in Ka’u, Hawaii’, Journal of the Polynesian Society, 60 (1951) 187–222; 61 (1952), 243–82; 62 (1953), 123–68, 285–341; 64 (1955), 56–101. 14 Te Rangi Hiroa (Peter Buck), Arts and Crafts of Hawaii (Honolulu 1957); Mary K. Pukui and Samuel H. Elbert, Hawaiian–English Dictionary (Honolulu 1957); idem, English–Hawaiian Dictionary (Hawaii 1964); idem, Hawaiian–English Dictionary (3rd edn, Hawaii 1965). The early editions of the dictionary were designed by Charlot. 15 John Papa Ii, Fragments of Hawaiian History, tr. Mary K. Pukui, ed. Dorothy B. Barrère (Honolulu 1959); Samuel M. Kamakau, Ruling Chiefs of Hawaii (Honolulu 1961). 16 Jean Charlot, Diary, 4 Aug. 1949, JCC. 17 Mrs Jennie Wilson, interview, ‘4–8–49 Told by Mrs Wilson’, 4 Aug. 1949, unpublished ts., JCC. 18 Jean Charlot, ‘Introduction’, Two Hawaiian Plays: Hawaiian English (Honolulu 1976), 7. 19 Idem, press notice on playwriting, n.d. [early 1970s?], unpublished ts., JCC. 20 Ibid. 21 I myself remember when I visited the Bishop Museum as a child that several masterpieces of Hawaiian sculpture were being used as props in tableaux with wax figures. 22 Peter Morse, Jean Charlot's Prints: a catalogue raisonné (Honolulu 1976), 299; Jean Charlot, taped interview, 11 Apr. 1978, JCC. 23 Idem, taped interview, 24 Apr. 1978, JCC. 24 See, e.g., ‘Art show at the Planetarium’, Honolulu Star Bulletin, 16 Nov. 1966, Sec. B, 1; ‘Questions, answers’, ibid., 7 Jun. 1967, Sec. C, 1; ‘Primitive Arts’, ibid., 14 Jun. 1967, Sec. D, 1, 6; ‘Hawaiiana for Aloha Week’, ibid., 27 Sept. 1967, Sec. B, 1; ‘The art of Polynesia’, ibid., 29 Nov. 1967, Sec. B, 1; Art Column, ibid., 19 Aug. 1971, Sec. D, 20. 25 Jean Charlot, An Artist on Art: collected essays of Jean Charlot, Vol. 1, Miscellany (Honolulu 1972), 229–30. 26 Idem, ‘Subject matter’, n.d. [1952?]; idem, Notes on ‘Early Contacts of Hawaii with Occidental Culture’ (Bishop Bank), unpublished ts., JCC (underlining and capitals in original). I emphasize that I concentrate in this article on Charlot's relationship with classical Hawaiian culture, but he worked in the mixed culture of post-contact Hawai’i as well, where, just as in Mexico, an original multi-racial culture was created. 27 Peter Morse, Jean Charlot's Prints, no. 533. 28 Ibid., no. 539. 29 John Charlot, Chanting the Universe: Hawaiian religious culture (Honolulu and Hong Kong 1983), 55–78. The work on the large fresco proceeded rapidly, despite serious problems with the plastering that necessitated retouching, which Charlot disliked. Charlot's diary records: 17 Oct. 1949, ‘First day ptg. on wall’; 28 Nov., ‘Retouch with lime … High ball. Celebrate end wall’; 30 Nov., ‘last touches of secco on wall’; 19 Jan. 1950, ‘unveiling fresco’. Jean Charlot, Diary, JCC. 30 Jean Charlot, Diary, 7 Jul. 1949, JCC. 31 Idem, ‘University of Hawaii Administration Building frescoes’, Alumni News, 5 (1954), 10. 32 Ibid. 33 Ibid. 34 Idem, Diary, 27 Aug. 1949, JCC. 35 Charlot was proud of the mural's composition, which accommodated multiple points of view, both vertically and horizontally. He was particularly proud of the figure of the digging man, whose stroke will emerge through the plane of the picture into the space of the viewer: ‘A specialised perspective effect was sought in the imu-digger, who is placed lower than any of the other figures, in that the illusion of space and bulk remains true even at close range.’ Idem, ‘University of Hawaii Administration Building frescoes’, 10. Interestingly, I have found no contemporary objections to a Hawaiian subject being depicted by a non-Hawaiian. Cooperation between Hawaiians and non-Hawaiians was in fact common in the field. 36 For further discussion of such dualisms, see John Charlot, ‘A pattern in three Hawaiian chants’, Journal of American Folklore, 96:379 (1983), 64–8; idem, Classical Hawaiian Education: generations of Hawaiian culture ( 2005), 16–17, 247–73, 332–5; and idem, ‘A note on the Hawaiian prophecy of Kapihe’, Journal of Pacific History, 39 (2004), 375–77. 37 Jean Charlot, ‘Subject Matter’ (underlining and capitals in original). This scene can be viewed on the JCC website, see fn. 1. 38 The image is a modification of a 1921 plaque by Roger Noble Burnham. See Hawaiian Mission Children's Society: one hundred and first annual report for the year ending April 30 1953 (Honolulu 1953), 2. The image has been used in various ways by the society. 39 Jean Charlot, taped interview, 1 Oct. 1970, JCC; idem, ‘Chief's Canoe’, Hilton Hawaii Village, now at the Hawai’i Convention Center, 8′ × 20′, 1956. 40 John Charlot, Chanting the Universe, 55–78. 41 Ibid., 115–26; Idem, Classical Hawaiian Education, 2, 4, 7–8, 424. 42 Jean Charlot, Three Plays of Ancient Hawaii (Honolulu 1963). 43 [Sheldon Dibble, ed.], Ka Mooolelo Hawaii: I Kakauia E Kekahi Mau Haumana O Ke Kulanui, A I Hooponoponoia E Kekahi Kumu O Ia Kula (Lahainaluna [Lahaina] 1838); Martha Warren Beckwith (ed.), Kepelino's Traditions of Hawaii. Bernice P. Bishop Museum Bulletin 95 (Honolulu 1932). 44 Idem (tr. and ed.), The Kumulipo, a Hawaiian creation chant (Chicago 1951). 45 Jean Charlot, Two Hawaiian Plays, 8. 46 Idem, press notice on playwriting. 47 Samuel H. Elbert, ‘Introduction’, in idem (ed.), Selections from Fornander's Hawaiian Antiquities and Folk-Lore, illus. Jean Charlot (Honolulu 1959), 3. 48 Samuel H. Elbert, ‘Preface’, in Jean Charlot, Three Plays of Ancient Hawaii (Honolulu 1963), vi. 49 The JCC website has several examples. See fn.1. 50 John Charlot, ‘Jean Charlot's Hawaiian-Language Plays’, Rongorongo Studies, 8:1 (1998), 3–24. 51 Elbert, ‘Preface’, v–ix. 52 Ibid., viii. 53 Charlot, Three Plays, liner notes. 54 Idem, Two Hawaiian Plays: Hawaiian English (Honolulu 1976). 55 Abraham Fornander, Fornander Collection of Hawaiian Antiquities and Folk-Lore. Memoirs of the Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum, Vol. 4 (Honolulu 1916–17), 596–609. 56 John Charlot, ‘Jean Charlot's Hawaiian-Language Plays’, 11–17. 57 Elbert, Preface, ix. 58 Jean Charlot's narration in George Tahara (filmmaker), ‘Petroglyphs of Hawaii’, documentary film, Cine-Pic Hawaii, Honolulu, 1960. 59 Charlot, taped interview. 26 Mar. 1978, JCC. 60 Ibid. 61 See, e.g., idem, An Artist on Art, 235–49; idem, narration in Tahara, ‘Petroglyphs of Hawaii’. Rubbings are now forbidden as potentially damaging to the petroglyphs. 62 The main examples are the following. Prints: ‘Moanalua Petroglyphs’, 1973 (Morse, Jean Charlot's Prints, nos 641–57); Mural: ‘Hawaiian Petroglyphs’, Alfred Preis home, Honolulu, Hawai’i, 9½′ wide by 4½′ high. 4 Jun. 1955; Sculpture: ‘In Praise of Petroglyphs’, Moanalua Intermediate School, Honolulu, Hawai’i, copper plate and champlevé enamel sculpture, 8’ high, begun May 1972, installed 7 Apr. 1973. 63 Jean Charlot, An Artist on Art, 240. 64 Idem, ‘’Iolani Luahine, Kneeling Hula’, oil painting, 38′′ × 48′′, 1976, cited in idem, Checklist, no. 1350, unpublished ms., JCC. 65 Idem, taped interview, 24 Mar. 1978, JCC. 66 John Charlot, ‘Jean Charlot as Paul Claudel's Ixtlilxóchitl’, 68–70. 67 Jean Charlot, quoted in Morse, Jean Charlot's Prints: a catalogue supplement (Honolulu 1983), 17. 68 Ibid., no. 748. 69 Charlot, taped interview, 24 Mar. 1978, JCC. 70 Idem, taped interview, 11 Apr. 1978, JCC. 71 Idem, taped interview, 24 Mar. 1978, JCC. 72 Idem, taped interview, 26 Mar. 1978, JCC. 73 I have regularised the text. Cf. Beckwith, The Kumulipo, 188. 74 Jean Charlot, taped interview, 26 Mar. 1978, JCC. 75 See fn. 74 above. 76 I have regularised the text. Cf. Beckwith, The Kumulipo, 188, 194. 77 Jean Charlot, ‘Nude, back, arms raised’, 38′′ × 28′′, oil painting, 1934, cited in idem, Checklist, no. 381, unpublished ms., JCC.
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