American
1950
Gouache and ink on paper, signed Ben Norris lower left
Height 17 1/4" (43.8 cm) x Width 25 1/2" (64.8 cm) including period frame; image 10 1/4" x 17 1/2"
Provenance: The artist; Verne Funk, Wisconsin, acquired from the artist 1954–55
Literature: Ben Norris, Margaret Norris Castrey, ed., Ben Norris: American Modernist, 1910–2006, An Autobiography, Copley Square Press, 2009, p. 100–102
Ben Norris (1910–2006) was an American modernist painter who spent much of his career in Hawai'i and became one of the most significant figures in mid-century Hawaiian art. This gouache and ink study relates directly to his monumental canvas The Pali, 1950, now in the permanent collection of the Hawai'i State Foundation on Culture and the Arts. The Pali was selected for American Painting Today 1950: a National Competitive Exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, a juried show that also included work by his former student and kama'āina painter Reuben Tam.
The Nu'uanu Pali lookout depicted here holds deep cultural and historical significance as the site of the Battle of Nu'uanu in 1795, through which Kamehameha I unified the Hawaiian Islands. Norris renders the dramatic cliffs and sky with bold geometric planes of color, the gouache and ink medium giving the composition a graphic directness that differs from the finished oil. The work comes directly from the artist and was acquired by Verne Funk of Wisconsin in 1954–55, giving it an unbroken provenance from the point of creation.
We ship free anywhere in the world, fully insured, packed by hand.
American
1950
Gouache and ink on paper, signed Ben Norris lower left
Height 17 1/4" (43.8 cm) x Width 25 1/2" (64.8 cm) including period frame; image 10 1/4" x 17 1/2"
Provenance: The artist; Verne Funk, Wisconsin, acquired from the artist 1954–55
Literature: Ben Norris, Margaret Norris Castrey, ed., Ben Norris: American Modernist, 1910–2006, An Autobiography, Copley Square Press, 2009, p. 100–102
Ben Norris (1910–2006) was an American modernist painter who spent much of his career in Hawai'i and became one of the most significant figures in mid-century Hawaiian art. This gouache and ink study relates directly to his monumental canvas The Pali, 1950, now in the permanent collection of the Hawai'i State Foundation on Culture and the Arts. The Pali was selected for American Painting Today 1950: a National Competitive Exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, a juried show that also included work by his former student and kama'āina painter Reuben Tam.
The Nu'uanu Pali lookout depicted here holds deep cultural and historical significance as the site of the Battle of Nu'uanu in 1795, through which Kamehameha I unified the Hawaiian Islands. Norris renders the dramatic cliffs and sky with bold geometric planes of color, the gouache and ink medium giving the composition a graphic directness that differs from the finished oil. The work comes directly from the artist and was acquired by Verne Funk of Wisconsin in 1954–55, giving it an unbroken provenance from the point of creation.
We ship free anywhere in the world, fully insured, packed by hand.
