Girl Reading

Madge Tennent’s feather ink paintings depict fantastic genre scenes like this young woman quietly reading. She appears focused intently on her book while resting in a vintage chair with a throne-like headrest or back. The delicacy of Tennent’s lines accentuates the girl’s lovely face, delicate curls, and full sleeves. Her three-quarter view is modern and intimate. Her reading is a prominent theme of Tennent, who reinforced women's literacy in her Hawaiian paintings.

Tennent arrived in Honolulu 100 years ago and became Hawai'i's most internationally recognized artist. In 1928, she created a group of women artists called “The Seven,” which included Juanita Vitousek, Juliet May Fraser, and Genevieve Lynch. Madge Tennent had a portrait practice in downtown Honolulu, teaching and exhibiting at the Honolulu Museum of Art. She was not only prolific as an artist but also unmatched in her stylistic versatility and use of media.

HPA is honored to be the guardians of the Tennent Art Collection for education, conservation, and continual exhibition of the masterworks of this seminal modernist of Hawai‘i.

Tennent arrived in Honolulu 100 years ago and became Hawai'i's most internationally recognized artist. In 1928, she created a group of women artists called “The Seven,” which included Juanita Vitousek, Juliet May Fraser, and Genevieve Lynch. Madge Tennent had a portrait practice in downtown Honolulu while teaching and exhibiting at the Honolulu Museum of Art. She was not only prolific as an artist but also unmatched in her stylistic versatility and use of media.

HPA is honored to be the guardians of the Tennent Art Collection for education, conservation, and continual exhibition of the colossal masterworks of this seminal modernist of