Post #290436 by Volcano Girl on Wed, Mar 7, 2007 9:14 PM

I mentioned to the "tiki people" who gathered last night at the Tropical Bistro, that I think I may have figured out who the artist is who did the two menu covers. I zoomed in on the autographed area. It looked like it said "Ka'ne" to me. So I began cyber-sleuthing again and found the name of one artist that really seemed to fit. Have any of you heard of Herb Kawainui Kane? Below is a comparison of his signature then on the two menus, and now, from a current painting that was up for auction at e-Bay recently.

I found several interesting websites with decent info about his background. Go to the websites to learn more about him. He's fascinating!

http://www.coffeetimes.com/herbkane.html

excerpt~

*In 1970, Herb Kawainui Kane left a successful career as a graphic artist in Chicago to begin a new life in the land of his ancestors. Within 14 years he was so renowned in Hawaii he was named one of the state's "Living Treasures."

-snip-

In his past two decades in Hawaii, Kane (pronounced Kah-neh) has become renowned as a fine artist, mostly as an oil painter. His work is seldom found in art galleries; usually every painting has a buyer before it's completed. He keeps a computerized data base of his work, but he's so prolific that even he doesn't know how many paintings he's done over the years.

"Not all my paintings are on the data base," he explains, "and I've never sat down and actually counted those that are on it."

In addition, he has created the artwork for six postage stamps for the United States, nineteen for the Marshall Islands, four for French Polynesia and another six for the Federated States of Micronesia. He also sculpts, has written three books and numerous magazine articles, and he is a very knowledgeable, self taught historian. Combining his love of both history and art, he paints what he loves- Hawaii's past.

-snip-

Kane continued to pursue his itch in college and graduated with a master's degree from the Art Institute of Chicago. He began working as a commercial artist in Chicago, but after "it got to be a bore," he switched to free-lance story illustration for magazines and books.

-snip-*

end excerpt~

I believe that it could have been in the Chicago area that my Dad may have crossed paths with Mr. Ka'ne. Dad traveled extensively on business when I was very little, and we know that he was in Chicago a lot. What I don't know yet is if Mr. Ka'ne is still alive. I hope to contact him if he is. He would probably be around 80 years old by now.

http://www.hawaiiantrading.com/herb-kane/