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Juliette May Fraser(1887-1983)Limu Gatherers 51 x 34 3/4 in. (129.5 x 88.3 lcm)
US$10,000 - US$15,000
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Kathy Wong
Senior Director, Fine Art

Aaron Bastian
Director

Megan Gallagher
Associate Specialist

Catherine Lay
Cataloguer
Juliette May Fraser (1887-1983)
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.




















