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Helen Thomas Dranga (1866-1928) Giant Banana Tree, Hawaiʻi 18 x 12 in. (45.7 x 30.5 cm) (Painted prior to 1924.) image 1
Helen Thomas Dranga (1866-1928) Giant Banana Tree, Hawaiʻi 18 x 12 in. (45.7 x 30.5 cm) (Painted prior to 1924.) image 2 - Hawaiʻi State Library
Helen Thomas Dranga (1866-1928) Giant Banana Tree, Hawaiʻi 18 x 12 in. (45.7 x 30.5 cm) (Painted prior to 1924.) image 3
Helen Thomas Dranga (1866-1928) Giant Banana Tree, Hawaiʻi 18 x 12 in. (45.7 x 30.5 cm) (Painted prior to 1924.) image 4
Lot 18

Helen Thomas Dranga
(1866-1928)
Giant Banana Tree, Hawaiʻi 18 x 12 in. (45.7 x 30.5 cm)

6 August 2025, 12:00 PDT
Los Angeles

Sold for US$20,480 inc. premium

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Helen Thomas Dranga (1866-1928)

Giant Banana Tree, Hawaiʻi
signed 'H.T. Dranga' (lower left)
oil on canvas laid to paperboard
18 x 12 in. (45.7 x 30.5 cm)
Painted prior to 1924.

Footnotes

Provenance
Private collection, Washington D.C.
Acquired from the above by the previous owner circa 1989.
Sotheby's, New York, 9 June 2016, lot 239 (as 'Banana Tree Grove').
Private collection, Gloucestershire, England, acquired from the above.

Literature
'Annual Christmas 'Paradise' Better Than Ever Before,' Hilo Tribune-Herald, 15 November 1924, p. 7 (as 'Giant Banana, Hawaii Island').
Paradise of the Pacific, December 1924, v. 37, no. 12, p. 57 (as 'Giant Bora-Bora Banana, Hawaii').
Paradise of the Pacific, September 1929, v. 42, no. 9, cover illustration (as 'Giant Banana Tree in Honolulu').

The work likely depicts a Fe'i banana tree (Musa troglodytarum), a cultivated variety indigenous to the Pacific Islands that can grow upwards of 33 feet. This particular tree depicted was estimated to be 19 feet tall with a 100 lb. bunch and leaves 2 by 10 feet long. 1

1 Paradise of the Pacific, December 1924, v. 37, no. 12, p. 57.

Additional information

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