Skip to main content

This auction has ended. View lot details

You may also be interested in

Own a similar item?

Submit your item online for a free auction estimate.

Juliette May Fraser (1887-1983) Limu Gatherers 51 x 34 3/4 in. (129.5 x 88.3 lcm) (Painted in 1954. ) image 1
Juliette May Fraser (1887-1983) Limu Gatherers 51 x 34 3/4 in. (129.5 x 88.3 lcm) (Painted in 1954. ) image 2
Juliette May Fraser (1887-1983) Limu Gatherers 51 x 34 3/4 in. (129.5 x 88.3 lcm) (Painted in 1954. ) image 3
Juliette May Fraser (1887-1983) Limu Gatherers 51 x 34 3/4 in. (129.5 x 88.3 lcm) (Painted in 1954. ) image 4
Lot 76

Juliette May Fraser
(1887-1983)
Limu Gatherers 51 x 34 3/4 in. (129.5 x 88.3 lcm)

6 August 2025, 12:00 PDT
Los Angeles

US$10,000 - US$15,000

Own a similar item?

Submit your item online for a free auction estimate.

How to sell

Looking for a similar item?

Our California Art specialists can help you find a similar item at an auction or via a private sale.

Find your local specialist

Ask about this lot

Juliette May Fraser (1887-1983)

Limu Gatherers
signed 'JULIETTE MAY FRASER' (lower right), signed again, titled and inscribed 'FRESCO' (on the reverse)
pigment and lime plaster on Canec
51 x 34 3/4 in. (129.5 x 88.3 lcm)
Painted in 1954.

Footnotes

Provenance
Richard S. Goodman.
(With) Antique Shop, 845 Mission Lane, Honolulu.
Harry Imura, June 1972, acquired from the above.
Private collection, Honolulu, acquired from the above.

Literature
Fraser, Juliette May, "Limu Pickers," UHM Library Digital Image Collections, accessed July 3, 2025, https://digital.library.manoa.hawaii.edu/items/show/44247.

Limu is a once abundant seaweed that has been used in peace offerings, hula attire and gastronomy throughout the Hawaiian Islands. The practice of Limu picking has historically been held by women and passed down matrilineally through oral history. In the early days of Hawaiʻi settlement, there was a code of conduct known as Kapu that dictated lifestyle, political, religious and gender roles. This structure was put in place not only to preserve the ecosystem from over-harvesting but to ensure a sustainable food supply for future generations. One of the particulars of the system was the notion of ʻAi kapu wherein foods like bananas, coconuts and pork were considered sacred and forbidden for women to consume. Native ethnobotanist Dr. Isabella Abbott theorized that Hawaiian women heavily consumed Limu as a direct result of this limited noa (or free) diet. While Kapu came to an end in 1819, remnants of the system continued to prioritize women as the sole gatherers and preparers of Limu. As in the present lot, Dr. Abbott notes that even into the first half of the 20th Century it was still common to see small groups of Hawaiian women along the shorelines in Kahala and Waikīkī wearing muʻumuʻu and hats cleaning Limu on sandy beaches during low tide. In Juliette May Fraser's Limu Gatherers five women gather around rocky tidepools in search of the nutrient-rich plant.

L. W. McGregor, Limu Traditions, Sea Grant, University of Hawaiʻi, 2019.

Additional information

Bid now on these items

David Howard Hitchcock(1861-1943)Hawaiian Forest 16 x 12 in. (40.6 x 30.5 cm)

SUSAN HERTEL(1930-1992)Night Corall II 49 1/4 x 80 1/2 in. (125.0 x 204.4 cm.)

NICOLAI FECHIN(1881-1955)Carmen (Head of a Girl) sheet 18 x 13 1/4 in. (45.7 x 33.6 cm.)

Edward Rohn Indian Head #50, Mexican Head #50(Two) each height 13inIndian Head #50, Mexican Head #50 (Two)

JOHN POON(B. 1962)Landscape with tree 11 x 14 in.

JOHN POON(B. 1962)Red Rock Morning 10 x 12 in.

ALBERT GEORGE HANDELL(B. 1937)River Landscape 18 x 24 in.

ELIAS RIVERA(1937-2019)Familiar Tranquility 42 x 32 in.

GENE HACKMAN(1930-2025)After Vincent Van Gogh (1853–1890)The Starry Night 16 x 19 1/4 in.

YVONNE CHENG(B. 1941)Portrait of a Seated Nude sight 37 x 26 in.

DAN OSTERMILLER(B. 1956)Bodacious 8 3/4 in. high Modeled and cast in 1991.