Hawaiian Islands / Sandwich Islands
1784, first edition atlas from Captain Cook's Third Voyage
Copper plate engraving by John Webber
Archival mat: 24 × 20 in. (61 × 50.8 cm)
Provenance: Randy Nagatani, Honolulu, HI; Lahaina Printsellers, Maui, HI
This copper plate engraving by John Webber depicts a man of the Sandwich Islands dancing, from the first edition atlas of Captain Cook's third and final voyage, published in 1784. Webber served as the official artist on the expedition and produced the principal visual record of the peoples and ceremonies encountered during the voyage; his plates of Hawaiian performance are among the relatively rare examples of eighteenth-century printed images that attempt to capture movement rather than static pose or portrait. The subject reflects both the expedition's careful attention to Hawaiian ceremony and the technical challenge that representing dance presented to voyage engravers.
The figure is shown in a posture of active movement, with costume and gesture forming the focus of the composition. As part of the Cook voyage atlas, the plate belongs to a body of work that shaped European understanding of Hawai'i for generations. The Randy Nagatani and Lahaina Printsellers provenance gives the print a continuous Hawaiian collecting history.
We ship free anywhere in the world, fully insured, packed by hand.
Hawaiian Islands / Sandwich Islands
1784, first edition atlas from Captain Cook's Third Voyage
Copper plate engraving by John Webber
Archival mat: 24 × 20 in. (61 × 50.8 cm)
Provenance: Randy Nagatani, Honolulu, HI; Lahaina Printsellers, Maui, HI
This copper plate engraving by John Webber depicts a man of the Sandwich Islands dancing, from the first edition atlas of Captain Cook's third and final voyage, published in 1784. Webber served as the official artist on the expedition and produced the principal visual record of the peoples and ceremonies encountered during the voyage; his plates of Hawaiian performance are among the relatively rare examples of eighteenth-century printed images that attempt to capture movement rather than static pose or portrait. The subject reflects both the expedition's careful attention to Hawaiian ceremony and the technical challenge that representing dance presented to voyage engravers.
The figure is shown in a posture of active movement, with costume and gesture forming the focus of the composition. As part of the Cook voyage atlas, the plate belongs to a body of work that shaped European understanding of Hawai'i for generations. The Randy Nagatani and Lahaina Printsellers provenance gives the print a continuous Hawaiian collecting history.
We ship free anywhere in the world, fully insured, packed by hand.
