Hawaiian Fisherman
- Date:
- 1910
- Medium:
- Woodblock print
- Format:
- Oban
- Source:
- Japanese Art Open Database
$1,500–$10,000. Fish prints are among this artist's most collected works. Good Asian scene prints: $3,000–$6,000. Key value factors: Bartlett's Watanabe-published prints of India and Southeast Asia are most valued. His vivid tropical colors distinguish his work.
Hawaiian Fisherman, created in 1910, depicts a local fisherman in the waters around Hawaii, where Bartlett had settled after years of traveling through Asia. The subject marks a shift from his Indian and Japanese scenes to the Pacific island culture that surrounded his Honolulu home. Hawaiian fishing traditions, practiced for centuries before European contact, involved sophisticated knowledge of currents, tides, fish behavior, and specialized equipment.
This oban woodblock print renders the fisherman within a seascape of tropical blues and greens, the warm tones of brown skin contrasting with the cool aquatic palette. Bartlett brings the same observational precision to this Hawaiian subject that he applied to his Asian scenes, treating the local figure with respect and visual seriousness rather than exotic curiosity. The 1910 date makes this one of Bartlett's earlier Hawaiian prints, produced as he was establishing his life in the islands while continuing to work in the Japanese woodblock medium he had mastered abroad.
Curated cross-cuts that include this print.
Hawaiian Fisherman was created by Charles W. Bartlett in 1910.
Hawaiian Fisherman depicts figures and animals.
