PRINCESS X, PRINCESS XI AND PRINCESS XIII SIGNED BY "YUKOI", BARBARA LAI BENNETT (B.1946) As a nod to the club’s 175th anniversary and our deep connection to Princess Kailuani, it’s very fitting to explore the three uniquely historical collages that are hung on the back wall of the Cleghorn Room, comprised of images of the the Princess, hula dancers, and etchings and photographs from the 19th century. For decades these pieces have quietly hung on the wall, with no information in our archives about the artist or the acquisition of the very well-composed works. Through a bit of sleuthing, we’ve identified these as works by a Honolulu native who likely created these as commissioned pieces when she was known simply as “yukoi”. The works themselves are striking in their imagery. The unifying and ghostly image of Kaiulani as a silkscreened image taken from a period photograph, laid over the vibrant pastel color palate provides just the first juxtaposition of the loss of the monarchy in the face of the happy, colorful tourist-friendly illustrations by Eugene Savage (of Matson menu cover fame). Each of the three works focuses on Princess Kaiulani, and pairs her with some other periodic image of native Hawaiians.
PRINCESS X, mixed media on paper, 15x15"
PRINCESS XI, mixed media on paper, 15x15"
PRINCESS XIII, mixed media on paper, 15x15"
In each of the three pieces, we also see the images of photographs from the late 1800’s of Queen Lili’uokalani, hula dancers, and then in Princess XII we find an image of “A Man of the Sandwich Islands with his Helmet” by John Webber, the illustrator on Captain Cook’s ill-fated third voyage to Hawaii. Taken in context, the use of the layering techniques in these collages mirror the layering of the history of our islands, and bring us to a place of considering the changes we’ve seen over the last 175 years. These three pieces appear to have been part of a 1993 exhibition by the artist at Gallery ‘Iolani at Windward Community College of her works entitled “Fantasy Archeology”. Barbara Lai Bennett was born and raised in Honolulu, Hawaii. She received her B.A. from UCLA in Art History in 1968 after transferring from the University of Redlands. She also took studio art classes at California State University at Los Angeles and Otis/Parsons School of Design. She has resided in Southern California all of her adult life where she has worked as a textile artist, a painter and a collage artist since the 1970s. Early in her career, she chose the nom-de-plume “yukoi” for signing of her commissioned works. Bennett shares, “my paintings and collages are inspired by the natural world, its cycles, shapes, colors, textures and its occupants. The end results are abstract for the most part but the organic connections are clear. I spent my childhood on Oahu, much of it outdoors, close to the ocean and green valleys with vibrantly colored foliage.”
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