Hajime Okuda: Old Hawaiian Plantation House

Artist: Hajime Okuda
Title: Old Hawaiian Plantation House
Medium: oil on canvas
Dimensions: 23" x 29"
Date: 1969

This second oil on canvas by Hajime Okuda (1905-1992), titled Old Hawaiian Plantation Home, measures 23” x 29”. It is signed, lower left, and dated 1969. It is framed in solid koa. For details on Hajime Okuda, please see lot # 24.

In this lovely painting, filled with nostalgia for long-gone days, Okuda captures the essence of the single-wall homes that used to dot the Hawaiian landscape, with their rusting roofs of corrugated iron and double-hung windows. Who, having been raised in Hawai'i and seeing this painting anywhere in the world, would not recognize his beloved homeland?

The homestead occupies most of the canvas, yet its “massive” presence is softened by the beauty of nature surrounding it. With great sensitivity, Okuda painted a couple in the center, thus giving the warmth of a human presence and completing the metaphor of an aging house tended by a man and a woman in their sunset years. The result is a work of timeless elegance with a tinge of melancholy.

A great work by a great artist.

Gift from Mr. Jon Martin