Footnotes

Provenance
Private collection, Oʻahu, by family inheritance.

"The painter, after having an emotional experience (caused let us say by a bowl of chrysanthemums) strives to transmit that emotional experience to others. He takes for his use all that is essential and of some significance, discarding the irrelevant. To accomplish this, he modifies or exaggerates his forms and colors to heighten their esthetic significance." ¹ -Arman Tateos Manookian

The present lot, Gathering Flowers is an evocative portrayal of a significant cultural tradition amongst Native Hawaiians by Arman Tateos Manookian, an Armenian American artist who landed in Pearl Harbor in 1925 at age 21 as an illustrator for the Marine Corps. Born in Constantinople, Manookian was a teen survivor of the Armenian Genocide who disembarked at Ellis Island in 1920, studying briefly at the Rhode Island School of Design and the Arts Students League of New York before joining the US Navy and settling in Oʻahu. Over the course of five years, he became widely renowned as a distinguished painter, commercial illustrator, and commissioned muralist by the time of his tragic death by suicide at the age of 27.

Often referred to as the "Van Gogh" of Hawaiʻi, Manookian's expressive representations of Native Hawaiian peoples engaged in acts of labor and leisure are reminiscent of Paul Gauguin's modernist experimentations and Diego Rivera's dignified depictions of indigenous peoples' connection to land and culture.

In this intimate gouache, two women are set against a lush jewel-toned landscape, plucking blooms for lei-making from a fragrant grove of plumeria trees, collecting the materials for their garlands in the wicker basket below. In the early nineteenth century, European botanists visiting Hawaiʻi observed the prevalence of lei amongst Native Hawaiians as an everyday personal adornment with important ceremonial functions that was worn by all — ali'i (chiefs), maka'āinana (the common people who tended the land), and even akua (gods, deities, spirits).²

In this strikingly balanced composition, smooth silver trunks emerge from harmoniously arranged bands of color, the layers of sediment mirrored by the tree canopy and clouds above. The geometric lines of the central figure in a columnar yellow dress and the surrounding organic forms are a preeminent example of the artist's joyful embrace of Art Deco aesthetics which flourished in Hawai'i between the two world wars. At her feet, white blossoms and bright red blooms, likely inspired by hibiscus flowers and 'Awapuhi (ginger flowers), resemble a constellation of dancing stars scattered amidst verdant cosmic earth.

Manookian's idyllic representation of this plumeria paradise predates the widespread preference for this flower in lei-making by nearly two decades. Brought to Hawai'i in the 1860s by Dr. William Hillebrand, a German physician and botanist who served as the appointed physician to the royal family at The Queen's Hospital from 1860 to 1871, plumerias were amongst the exotic and native trees planted in the 14-acres he leased from Queen Kalama Hakaleleponi Kapakuhaili, now known as Foster Botanical Garden in present day downtown Honolulu. Although not native to Hawai'i, plumerias are now synonymous with this quintessential Hawaiian cultural practice rooted in a sacred ancient Polynesian tradition that continues to connect diverse peoples as a potent symbol of welcome and celebration across cultures worldwide.

Reflecting broader transformations in twentieth-century Hawaiian art, society and landscapes, Gathering Flowers is a rare example by one of Hawai'i's most gifted modernists, celebrating the dedication, craftsmanship, and significance of Indigenous traditions. Several of Manookian's works are held in the permanent collections of the Honolulu Museum of Art and the Bishop Museum. Over the course of the past two decades, the beloved artist has continued to receive increased attention in Hawai'i and beyond for his enchanting visions of the islands that became his refuge and legacy.

¹ Arman Tateos Manookian, "Expression of Emotion by Plastic Form."
² J.R. Hollyer, et al., "Growing Plants for Hawaiian Lei; 85 Plants for Gardens, Conservation, and Business," Hawaiian Ecosystems and Culture, 2002, p. 4.