Joseph Nawahi

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'View of Hilo Bay', oil painting by Joseph Nawahi, 1888, Kamehameha Schools, Honolulu

'Hilo Bay', oil painting by Joseph Nawahi, circa 1868, Mission Houses Museum, Honolulu

Joseph Nawahi (Puna, Hawaii, 1842 - 1896) also known as Joseph Kahoʻoluhi Nāwahī and as Joseph Kahoʻoluhi Nāwahīokalaniʻōpuʻu was a native Hawaiian legislator, lawyer, newspaper publisher, and painter.

As a young man, he studied with Christian missionaries. He later became a member of the Hawaiian legislature, serving for 20 years (1872-1892), and was a member of the cabinet of Queen Liliuokalani (Minister of Foreign Affairs, 1892). He was one of the electors who made Lunalilo king. He was also the President of the Hawaiian Patriotic League and opposed the 1893 overthrow of the Hawaiian monarchy.

Nāwahī operated Ke Aloha Aina, a Hawaiian nationalist newspaper.

He was married to Emma ‘Aima Aiʻi Nāwahī. He was a self-taught artist and was the first Native Hawaiian to become an accomplished painter in the Western style. Only five or six of his paintings are known to exist. [1]

Today, a Hawaiian language immersion school named in his honor is in Keaʻau, Puna, Hawaiʻi. Ke Kula ʻo Nāwahīokalaniʻōpuʻu educates students from grades K-12 in the Hawaiian language. In 1999, this school was one of two that graduated the first high school classes to have been educated entirely in the Hawaiian language in a century.

[edit] References

Forbes, David W., "Encounters with Paradise: Views of Hawaii and its People, 1778-1941", Honolulu Academy of Arts, 1992.
Severson, Don R., "Finding Paradise, Island Art in Private Collections", University of Hawaii Press, 2002, 85-87.
Sheldon, John G. M., and Puakea Nogelmeier (1988). The Biography of Joseph K. Nawahi. Translation of Ka buke moolelo o Hon. Joseph K. Nawahi. Translated from the Hawaiian with an introduction by Marvin Puakea Nogelmeier. Honolulu: Hawaiian Historical Society.