Tiki Centralite Honored, Academia nods to Poly Kitch

The Bishops Museum in Honolulu Hawaii (1525 Bernice Street Honolulu, HI 96817) , is arguably the most prestigious of the Polynesian Museums: According to their website:

http://www.bishopmuseum.org/mission.html

"Over the past 112 years, the Museum has acquired 24.7 million items telling the full story of Hawaii and the Pacific. These items include over 2.4 million cultural artifacts representing Native Hawaiian, Pacific Island and Hawaii Immigrant life, more than 115,000 historical publications, 1 million historical photographs, films, works of art, audio recordings and manuscripts, and millions of specimens of plant and animal life, many of them extinct. The collections of Bishop Museum have been the source of hundreds of publications, many of them by Bishop Museum Press, and are continually being accessed by the public through Bishop Museum's Library and Archives."

Almost 25,000,000 Items, Christ on Toast, that is something.

The Bishops Museum






A small sample of the wonders on display

We were lucky enough to see the rotating Ku Exhibit on our visit. It presents our favorite deity in a variety of ways, Historically, Sociologically, Religiously and contemporarily

There are three of these Historic Heiau Ku Images one is in New England, one is in Europe and one is at the Bishops. It is very large and impressive.



Along with Ku this Representation of Kane was exhibited. This is the tallest of the ancient Hawaiian Tikis.

Ku and his girlfriend Hina, These priceless Tikis were unearthed in a rice field by a Chinese farmer early in the 20th century. The farmer gave the images to the Catholic Church, who in turn donated them to the Museum.

The Exhibit was organized into sections, My Favorite was the "Ku Kitsch"



And in a glass case alongside these precious and priceless works of art, lies a Tiki Farm Tiki Mug.




Wow, in the same case as Duke's stuff.

Holden, you've made the big time. Now you are no longer just a businessman, raconteur, gadabout, all around bro, apuppetapauperapirateapoetapawnandaking, you are now a historic footnote. I tip my Mai-Tai to you. Congratulation.

Mahalo,
Al

[ Edited by: Alnshely 2007-12-02 20:48 ]

A fascinating set of pics, Al. You managed to get a real feel for the place! Congrats to Holden too. There aren't many living people that can say that what they have created lies in a museum!

Just a couple of points - The other similar Ku figures are at the Peabody Museum in Salem Mass (So Mass residents can have a day of witches and Tiki) and at the British Museum in London (which also has a moai from Easter Island). The British Museum is very slow in getting it's Polynesian collection back on show, so Ku has been out of sight for far too long.

I was also a little surprised to see the white pants that the figures were wearing. Is this an example of 21st century puritanism, or did these figures ever wear these rather absurd garments?

Trader Woody

Al, you should be getting a little reimbursement by the Hawaiian Travel Board for posting all those pictures from your recent trip! I need to start saving now for such a vacation! The photos from the museum just go to prove that a Hawaiian retreat doesn’t need to be filled with rum cocktails, buying aloha shirts and paddling around in outrigger canoes (all of which had me sold for years) it can be an educational trip as well! Congrats, you're one hell of a travel agent!

Thanks Al, will definitely stop by the Bishops Museum when the mrs & i are there this Sept.

On 2004-04-22 02:19, Trader Woody wrote:
I was also a little surprised to see the white pants that the figures were wearing. Is this an example of 21st century puritanism

This has obviously got to be the work of the Christian Howlies (

I was also a little surprised to see the white pants that the figures were wearing. Is this an example of 21st century puritanism, or did these figures ever wear these rather absurd garments?

That article of clothing is a malo and they were worn during the period, so it may not be an example of puritan "morals".

Thank you for posting the amazing pictures! I had no idea what we were missing. Next time we are in Hawaii we will definitely visit the Bishops Museum.

this may be of interest only to me, but now that Drew Brophy's TikiFarm mug has hit the big time (being presented in the Bishop Museum, Hawaii)... I thought I would ride his coat tails....

this is a comparison of my 1998 lightswitch cover... my 'TikiMan' Design I first sculpted as an incense holder in late 1995ish.


interesting........
Drew's design is called 'Kalifornia Ku'2003... a fitting tribute to Mainland cavers here in CA.

My 'Tikiman Design' is popular....
LakeSurfer posted this pic some time ago...

I have a '?' for you TC research types... are there and examples of my 'Squinting Hollow Eye' Design before my incense holder in 1995........ I like to think of this as my own, but I my just be stoking my self...... I like that, it feels good.

i posted this in the main area as well
http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=8710&forum=1&
reply there thanks

[ Edited by: crazy al on 2004-04-23 10:00 ]

Crazy Al, you ain't crazy. I love doing visual Tiki genealogy, tracing back designs like that, vintage and new.

Big Al, thanks for the pics, the feather helmets were not on display last time I was there, that feather Ku image is one of my faves!

The Ku Kitsch display is there thanks to DeSoto Brown, my man at the Bishop Museum Archives (see BOT credits). DeSoto has been trying to make the academics there recognize Polynesian Pop for years, and he is slowly getting somewhere.

DeSoto is a pioneer in discovering Hawaiiana, having published the very first book on the subject as early as 1982. His "Hawaii Recalls" was the first book to show Eugene Savage's and McIntosh's Matson Line covers, which subsequently became such icons of Hawaiian nostalgia that they have become clichees twice.

He owns THE most extensive collection of Hawaian sheet music covers, menu covers, movie stills and general Hawaiian ephemera anywhere, and has written several other books, like "Hawaii at War", also a book of vintage Waikiki postcards, and recently co-authored a book on Hawaiian shirts. He also wrote an article about the Ku image in one of the last published Tiki News.

Here is a Honululu arts article that mentions him:

http://starbulletin.com/97/03/06/features/story1.html

and he also had his own opinion on the recent artifact removal controversy:

"Staff that speak out reprimanded

Last week, well-known Bishop Museum archivist DeSoto Brown was suspended without pay for speaking out publicly about the artifact controversy and criticizing the museum’s actions. Both Purnell and DeSoto Brown are authors, respected in their fields and well-known in the community."

He's back there now, and things are settled. I'd like to ad that he is a very private person, and nobody, not even I, have ever gotten to see his whole collection.

Thanks for posting the information on the Bishop Museum. We will be in Hawaii for three weeks at the end of May. We will most definitely check out the museum. It looks AWESOME!!!!! Any other tiki recommendations?