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Lot 23W
David Howard Hitchcock(1861-1943)Hanalei Valley, Kauaʻi 40 x 71 in. (101.6 x 180.3 cm) In a Martin & MacArthur koa wood frame.
6 August 2025, 12:00 PDT
Los AngelesSold for US$229,100 inc. premium
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Kathy Wong
Senior Director, Fine Art
Aaron Bastian
Director
Megan Gallagher
Associate Specialist
Catherine Lay
Cataloguer
David Howard Hitchcock (1861-1943)
Hanalei Valley, Kauaʻi
signed and dated 'D. HOWARD HITCHCOCK- / HONOLULU H.I. / 1925-' (lower right)
oil on canvas
40 x 71 in. (101.6 x 180.3 cm)
In a Martin & MacArthur koa wood frame.
Painted in 1925.
signed and dated 'D. HOWARD HITCHCOCK- / HONOLULU H.I. / 1925-' (lower right)
oil on canvas
40 x 71 in. (101.6 x 180.3 cm)
In a Martin & MacArthur koa wood frame.
Painted in 1925.
Footnotes
Provenance
The artist.
SS Hualālai, Inter-Island Steam Navigation Company, commissioned from the above.
The Kauaʻi Inn, Inter-Island Resorts, Ltd., Līhuʻe, Kauaʻi, by 1957.
W. (Walter) Dudley Child, Jr. (1931-2004), Hilo, Hawaiʻi.
Private collection, Oʻahu.
Literature
'Kauai Inn Boasts Ship Mementos,' Honolulu Star-Advertiser, 3 February 1957, p. 103.
Helen Hitchcock Maxon, D. Howard Hitchcock: Islander, Honolulu, Topgallant Publishing Co., 1987, pp. 176-178, 209.
David Howard Hitchcock first visited Kauaʻi in 1907 on a trek with the Theosophist Augustus Francis Knudsen (1869-1944). 1 The Knudsen family owned and operated a large sugar plantation at Kōloa, and over the next two decades, Hitchcock would return to Kauaʻi as a guest of the Knudsens to paint the island's scenery. Most notably, Hitchcock painted monumental views of Hanalei Bay and Waimea Canyon.
In 1922, Hitchcock was approached by the directors of the Inter-Island Steam Navigation Company who planned to build a new steamer that would provide an elevated inter-island cruise experience for locals and tourists alike. 2 This steamer was the S.S. Haleakalā, and it was the first of four luxury steamers launched—each designed for service to different islands.
Hitchcock was commissioned to paint five large-format landscapes total—one of Haleakalā, Hanalei (the present work), the Molokaʻi coast, Nu'uanu Pali, and Mauna Kea at Sunrise from Hilo. 3 Hitchcock zealously started on several at once. In his diary, he wrote, 'Finished the Pali pict. Today, also M. Kea, Hilo, and made a slight change in foreground of Haleakala. So the bunch is done for the time being although the foreground of the Hanalei picture will have to be retouched after it is in place.' 4
The question of when Hanalei Valley, Kauaʻi was placed remains—while it was commissioned in 1922, it was not completed until 1925. Though initially commissioned for the S.S. Haleakalā, it is recorded as having been placed in the S.S. Hualālai. 5 The S.S. Hualālai, built in San Francisco to operate primarily between Honolulu Harbor in Oʻahu and Nāwiliwili Harbor in Kauaʻi, wasn't completed until 1929. It is unknown at this time whether the work was aboard the S.S. Hualālai for her maiden voyage or after.
The advent of air travel led to the demise of the inter-island cruise, and by 1957 (just three years before the S.S. Hualālai was scrapped), the present work was transferred to the Kauaʻi Inn, a surf hotel that was operated by Inter-Island Resorts, a subsidiary of the Inter-Island Steam Navigation Company. Walter D. Child, Sr. (1877-1971), the former proprietor of the Honolulu Blaisdell Hotel, became president of Inter-Island Resorts in 1953 and opened the Kauaʻi Inn. 6 He retired as board chairman in 1967, and his son, W. Dudley Child, Jr. (1931-2004) succeeded as President of Inter-Island Resorts.
1 Helen Hitchcock Maxon, D. Howard Hitchcock: Islander, Honolulu, Topgallant Publishing Co., 1987, p. 108.
2 Ibid, p. 178.
3 Ibid.
4 Ibid.
5 "Kauai Inn Boasts Ship Mementos,' Honolulu Star-Advertiser, 3 February 1957, p. 103.
6 "Walter D. Child, Hotel Pioneer, Dies," Honolulu Star-Bulletin, 11 January 1971, p. D6.
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