Sunday: Honolulu Academy of Arts

Today's plan was to get to the Honolulu Academy of Arts, since I've not been, and it's close enough to my apartment that I could probably walk to it (if it wasn't hot out with a burning Day Star shining down death rays).  It's not open a long time on Sunday, just 1-5, but it's also not so giant that it requires a multi-day trip to see everything.  I skimmed a few of the galleries (some parts of the world don't make art that I'm that fond of; also: some recent decades), but I think I caught everything I wanted to see.  Since they have a strict "no photography" rule in place, I'm going to have to share via:

And after drawing and arranging things, I discover that the art I was thinking of are available on the HAoA webpage.  Oops.  Links to the originals as appropriate.

First, Rabbits in Grass Under the Moon:

I liked this one because the accompanying text describes the myth of the rabbit making mochi on the moon, and suggests that the smiling bunny is wishing he could return to his "ancestral home."  I like the idea of astronaut bunnies.

Second, Guanyin:

Clearly, mine is more smiley than the original. You'd think enlightenment would make you a bit happier.

Third, a combination of Nathaniel Allen and The Actress Elizabeth Younge with Bust of Shakespeare:

My idea on this one was that almost all of the European portraiture depicts grumpy looking men in dark clothes in front of a dark background, all of which is made darker by the effects of aging.  In the actress webpage image, you can barely see the bust of Shakespeare on the left, and in real life, it's even less obvious. There was also a print by Rembrandt that mentioned a lion in the shadows.  Similarly, my crayon drawing shows a dragon flying above as well as a miniature marching band in the foreground, obscuring the lower half of the subject.  Unfortunately, I drew all of that in black, so it's a bit hard to see.

Ok, this one is technically "postcard theater." This is Tavernier's "The Volcano at Night," which seems to have been the first of this kind of setting.  The Hawaiian art gallery then had two or three knockoffs that had almost identical design by different artists.  I can't find this on the webpage, so no link here.

One guess as to the artist here. You can all make your own jokes, you don't need me.

This is the...wait a minute...

I've been there!