David Howard Hitchcock was born in Hilo, Hawaii, on May 15,1861. He studied painting in Paris and returned to Hawaii in 1893, where he continued his studies with Jules Tavernier. During extensive travels in the 1900's, Hitchcock explored the volcanic regions of the island of Hawaii, and in July 1907 he made his first visit to the island of Kauai, where he painted Waimea Canyon. He toured and painted the island of Maui in 1915 and 1916. He was a leading member of Hawaii’s Volcano School, and his most important paintings date from about 1905 to 1930. Hitchcock painted several murals in Honolulu and executed dramatic views of Hawaii for display on vessels of the Inter-Island Steam Navigation Company. During the late 1920's, after a trip to New York, his style became more impressionistic. In 1894, Hitchcock became one of the founders of the Kilohana Art League. In 1927, he exhibited several paintings at the opening of the Honolulu Academy of Arts, where he had a retrospective exhibition in 1936. His paintings were exhibited at the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition in Seattle in 1909 (where he was awarded a prize) and at the Panama-Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco in 1915. In 1939 he exhibited in the Golden Gate International Exposition in San Francisco and at the 1939 New York World's Fair. Hitchcock died in Honolulu on January 1,1943. Several of Hitchcock’s paintings are usually on view at the Honolulu Academy of Arts.
References
- Forbes, David W., "Encounters with Paradise: Views of Hawaii and its People, 1778-1941", Honolulu Academy of Arts, 1992, 180-233.
- Severson, Don R. "Finding Paradise: Island Art in Private Collections", University of Hawaii Press, 2002.
