Hilo Sampans at Suisan Fish Market

William Twigg-Smith is considered the first major artist to have portrayed city life in Hawaii. This is one of several studies he rendered of fishing activities along Hilo’s Wailoa River; another, Hilo Sampans, appeared in the Honolulu Academy’s seminal Encounters with Paradise exhibition (1992). With their boats securely moored near the Suisan Fish Market (still operating today), the fishermen unload the morning’s bounty as a tranquil afternoon takes hold. At the composition’s center, triangular sampan sails and geometric roofs unite the billowing tree and rippling tides. In this balance between nature’s organic forms and man’s angular structures, Twigg-Smith has found harmony in the urban landscape.

The work is presented in its original black walnut frame.