Sisters of the Brush: Women Artists of Hawaiʻi, 1880 - 2000

The Isaacs Art Center is proud to unveil the most expansive survey of women artists of Hawai'i in state history, covering more than a century of diverse responses to the islands' people and places. The exhibition includes works drawn from the center’s permanent collection, recent acquisitions, and loans from featured artists and private collectors. At its core, the show commemorates the 90th anniversary of The Seven, a coalition of Honolulu-based women artists who first exhibited together in 1929. Several of the group’s inaugural members — namely, Juliette May Fraser, Genevieve Springston Lynch, Madge Tennent (founder and president), and Juanita Vitousek — would subsequently devote the bulk of their careers to Hawai‘i. Simultaneously, Marguerite Blasingame and Shirley Russell established themselves as outstanding exponents of Hawaiian sculpture and floral painting, respectively, and often appeared in shows alongside members of The Seven.

 

This groundbreaking exhibition constitutes a sweeping study of women's impact on Hawaii's cultural legacy and celebrates one of the first organized artistic sisterhoods in America. From accomplished landscape painters to avant-garde interpreters of the human figure, these women found inspiration in the islands and, in turn, profoundly informed the trajectory of Hawaiian art.

 

Ultimately, Sisters of the Brush is a celebration of women and their invaluable contributions to Hawaiian art — contributions that were contemporaneously regarded as "authoritative" and "pivotal" in a global era that effectively erased women artists. Indeed, the show endeavors to reveal how women largely dictated the terms of 20th-century island culture, rarely encountering the sort of institutionalized sexism that often circumscribed the work of their global counterparts. From Helen Kelley’s striking watercolors of Hawaii’s flora, to Madge Tennent’s world-famous murals of voluptuous Hawaiian wahine, to Mayumi Oda’s diverse portfolio forged in response to both the female figure and local nature, women have indelibly and undeniably transformed visions of Hawai‘i.

 

Featured artists include Marguerite Blasingame, Yvonne Cheng, Juliette May Fraser, Cornelia MacIntyre Foley, Susan McGovney Hansen, Pegge Hopper, Helen Whitney Kelley, Genevieve Springston Lynch, Mayumi Oda, Shirley Russell, Madge Tennent, and Juanita Vitousek.

 

Certain works in the exhibition will be available for purchase. Proceeds benefit the Hawai‘i Preparatory Academy scholarship program, which supports aspiring young people in attending the school.