The Inquisitive Aesthete

Tag: art research

Is This The First Female Hawaii Volcano School Artist
What Little We Know About The Life and Art of Clara Gregory Lindsay

In 1891, Clara Gregory Lindsay became one of the earliest women to show her artwork in Hawaiʻi. It’s possible she is the first female painter of Hawaii’s renowned Volcano School. Although long forgotten, Clara was a socialite. With a generous spirit, and creative force whose paintings reflected the vitality she brought to her community.

Her work, ranging from ink portraits to a luminous 1895 volcano painting, reveals a woman who possessed a deep connection to the culture and radiant landscapes of Hawaii.

Early Life and Arrival in Maui

Born Clara Fowler Gregory in Illinois on March 29, 1867, Clara suffered the loss of both her parents before she was six years old. Her parents were originally from New York and Connecticut. By the late 1880s, she had moved to Hamakua-poko, Maui, to live with her aunt and uncle, Mr. and Mrs. Charles Loveland. The Lovelands were respected figures in the island’s missionary and civic community.

Historical records show her name in various forms, including Claire, Clare, or Clara, often with the middle or family names Fowler (or Fowlar) and Gregory.

Artistic Recognition and Style

Lindsay’s art is technically refined and publicly admired. She worked in diverse mediums including pencil, pen and ink, watercolor, and oil painting, transforming Maui’s lush landscapes and Hawaii’s fiery spectacles into intimate visions of beauty. Visitors to her Makawao home specifically praised her ability to capture the unique color effects of the island scenery.

Her first major public recognition occurred in 1891. The Honolulu Star-Bulletin reported that “Miss Clare F. Gregory… has just completed an India-ink portrait of his late Majesty,” which was exhibited at King Bros’ art store. The publication highly praised the life-sized bust of King Kalakaua, noting that “Miss Gregory’s pencil has been quite active, and its productions entitle her to a high place among local artists”.

A Rare Female Voice in the Volcano School

A significant surviving work, “Volcano at Night” (1895), places Lindsay within the closing phase of Hawaiʻi’s celebrated Volcano School. The Volcano School was an informal circle of painters active between 1880 and 1900 who depicted volcanic landscapes of Hawaii.

This 40 x 23-inch oil on canvas depicts Kīlauea’s Halemaʻumaʻu Crater, featuring a molten lava lake that illuminates the ridges and clouds with a fiery glow. The composition, with its swirling arc of dark rock and hints of blue, recalls the palettes and aesthetics of renowned artists Jules Tavernier and Charles Furneaux.

Painted six years after Tavernier’s death, Lindsay’s work demonstrates that the tradition continued well into the 1890s and represents an extremely rare female perspective within the Volcano School movement.

“Volcano at Night” (1895): Oil on canvas depicting Kīlauea’s Halemaʻumaʻu crater; signed “C. G. Lindsay

Marriage and Community Service

On July 25, 1894, Clara married David Colville Lindsay, a bookkeeper for the Paia Plantation, at the Makawao Protestant Church. Settling in Paia, Clara became a leader in community and church affairs.

She combined her artistic life with civic service, teaching Sunday School and leading charitable projects. By 1895, she was elected president of the Makawao Ladies’ Aid Society, working alongside other prominent women in education and philanthropy. Her dual role as an artist and community builder embodied the late-Victorian ideal of uniting beauty with benevolence.

Death and Legacy

One of her last known artistic commissions was a pen-and-ink enlargement of a portrait of Hon. H. P. Baldwin, which was displayed at the Baldwin National Bank of Kahului and noted for its accuracy.

Tragically, Clara Gregory Lindsay died on June 16, 1912, at the age of 45, due to complications following an appendectomy at Paia Hospital. She had recently returned from a visit to Scotland, and her sudden death was a shock to the Maui community. She was survived by her husband, four daughters, and her aunt.

Clara Gregory Lindsay occupies a vital, yet long-overlooked, place in the story of women artists in Hawaiʻi. She expanded the Volcano School tradition beyond its masculine origins ensuring that a woman’s vision of Hawaiʻi’s natural sublime would endure on canvas.

Known Works
- India Ink Portrait of King Kalakaua (1891): Exhibited at King Bros.’ Art Store, Honolulu.
- “Volcano at Night” (1895): Oil on canvas depicting Kīlauea’s Halemaʻumaʻu crater; signed “C. G. Lindsay”.
- Portrait of Hon. H. P. Baldwin (c. 1911–12): A pen-and-ink enlargement displayed at Baldwin National Bank.
- Watercolor Landscapes of Maui: Various dates; mentioned in her obituary as widely admired.
Author’s Note: Reconstructing a Lost Legacy

This post has been pieced together from limited research, including 19th and early 20th-century newspaper archives, probate records, census data, and surviving artworks. These fragments reveal a woman whose artistic and civic contributions were deeply intertwined and who serves as a vital link between the missionary generation and the emergence of modern Hawaiian art.
November 27, 2025
Edouard Garcia Benito’s Gift to Condé Nast

The Painting I Sold Too Soon

Edouard Garcia Benito’s painting for Condé Nast

I acquired this painting as part of a lot of five works. I admired its vibrant elegance when I saw it, but it didn’t fit my collection. I let it go, and later discovered how significant it truly was.

It wasn’t just an attractive piece of art; it was a personal gift from the Spanish Art Deco master Edouard Garcia Benito to none other than Condé Nast, the visionary publisher behind Vogue and Vanity Fair.

The dedication reads:

“Le monsieur Nast très sophistiqué et penseur” — To Mr. Nast, a very sophisticated and thoughtful man.

I misread the inscription, thinking it said something closer to Le monsieur naît (born). My impatience with getting an accurate translation meant I missed the key clue. Only when I stumbled on an image of this piece in my photos did I revisit and solve the puzzle — a bittersweet reminder that sometimes it pays to slow down in art research.

Provenance suggests it passed directly from Benito to Nast, and later through the venerable New York gallery M. Knoedler & Co., long before Knoedler’s controversies. The elegant woman depicted may be Natica Nast, Condé’s daughter, who was often portrayed in fashionable hats.

The composition is pure Art Deco glamour: a graceful woman in a gown, clasping her clutch under her arm, her face softly abstracted, framed by lush blossoms of red, pink, and yellow. Her red lips draw the eye, balanced by the upright figure of a man in formal evening attire behind her, hands on his hips, exuding confidence. The brushwork is loose yet deliberate, with bold swaths of color — crimson, canary yellow, moss green, deep navy — set against areas of untouched white. It’s signed E. G. Benito in the lower left, along with the inscription to Nast. The mood is equal parts sophistication and flirtation, the hallmark of Benito’s fashion illustration sensibility.

I rarely look back on pieces I’ve let go. But letting this painting go might nag at me. It wasn’t just a beautiful work but a tangible link between two giants of 20th-century culture.

If there’s a lesson here, it’s take your time, dig deeper, and never underestimate what a closer look might reveal. And sometimes you might want to add a zero to the price…

About Edouard Garcia Benito

Edouard Garcia Benito (1891–1981) was born in Valladolid, Spain, and trained at the School of Fine Arts in Valladolid and San Fernando in Madrid before moving to Paris in 1912. Immersed in the city’s avant-garde, he befriended artists like Modigliani and Dufy and began creating fashion illustrations for elite publications such as La Gazette du Bon Ton.

His big break came in the early 1920s when couturier Paul Poiret introduced him to Condé Nast. Benito went on to produce nearly 100 covers for Vogue and Vanity Fair, defining the magazines’ Art Deco aesthetic with his bold geometric forms, elongated figures, and sophisticated minimalism. He alternated between painting society portraits and creating witty, stylish illustrations, leaving a lasting imprint on both fashion and fine art.

About Condé Nast

Condé Montrose Nast (1873–1942) transformed magazine publishing in the early 20th century. Acquiring Vogue in 1909 and launching Vanity Fair soon after, he targeted the cultural elite with a mix of high fashion, society reportage, and cutting-edge design. Nast had a keen eye for visual talent, employing some of the era’s most important illustrators and photographers, including Benito, George Lepape, and Edward Steichen. His publications became cultural barometers, shaping taste and style for generations.

August 12, 2025
Jules Tavernier’s first Hawaii volcano paintings?
Buring Lake of Kilauea

Jules Tavernier painted Burning Lake of Kilauea in November 1884. He was commissioned by Mr. Edward Macfarlane of The Wasp magazine and Pacific Commercial Advertiser to compose two oil paintings of the Kilauea volcano.ⁱ Tavernier had yet to travel to Hawai’i (Sandwich Islands) and see the volcanoes firsthand. The two volcano paintings are inspired by photos and his imagination, as many of his significant works were.

Chromolithographic created

The Burning Lake of Kilauea painting was turned into a 14-color chromolithographic ^Figure^1. supplement for the 1884 Christmas issue of The Wasp publication.ⁱⁱ

Figure 1. Based on the painting by Jules Tavernier, and supplement to the 1884 Christmas issue of The WASP. Schmidt Label & Litho. Co. One surviving original print is in the Barry Lawrence Ruderman Map Collection at Stanford University Libraries. Image Copyright © Stanford University.

In the early 1880s, influenced by illustrations in Harper’s Weekly and William Alexander Coulter, Tavernier began to create volcano studies. The San Francisco Chronicle had the following to say about the Macfarlane commissions.

“…very effective illustrations of the chaotic and terror inspiring state of things witnessed by the Hawaiians in 1880, and are said by visitors to the Islands at that time to be very truthful in drawing and coloring. The painting might seem strange to one who knows that Jules was never a sojourner at the home of the Kanakas; but there is really nothing wonderful about it, when we reflect on the fact that some of his most successful pictures are those of landscapes upon which he has never set eye.” ⁱⁱⁱ

Those studies are what generated Tavernier’s pull to Hawaii. Tavernier would not lay his own eyes on a Hawaii volcano until January 6^th, 1885, when he and Joseph D. Strong would make their first sketching trip.^iv

Surviving examples

There are currently three surviving examples of Buring Lake of Kilauea. The chromolithograph in figure 1., and two oil paintings.

The first painting is a large 36×22 inch oil on canvas still with its original 19th-century Victorian gold leaf frame from the Michael Horikawa Fine Art collection.^{Figure 2}

Figure 2. Burning Lake of Kilauea 1884 oil on canvas. Provenance Michael Horikawa Fine Art. Image Copyright © DerSeul, LLC

The second is a smaller picture reportedly from the late Harry Miura collection.^v ^Figure^3.

Figure 3. From the late Harry Miura collection. Oil on canvas laid on board. 15 x 9 5/8 inches. Sold in 2013 by Mauna Kea Galleries

Attributing Burning Lake of Kilauea

Recalling that Macfarlane commissioned two volcano paintings, we can speculate attribution to the two examples above.

Given that only two oil paintings of the chromolithographic scene have emerged in over one-hundred and twenty-five years gives strength to the attribution. Moreover, both paintings are similar enough to be precursors worthy of mass duplication in The Wasp.
- [i] The Pacific Commercial Advertiser – 11 Nov 1884, Page 2
- [ii] The Pacific Commercial Advertiser – 30 Dec 1884, Page 2
- [iii] California Art Research Volume Four, WPA Project 2874, January 1937, Page 20
- [iv] The Honolulu Advertiser (Honolulu, Hawaii) – Jan 6, 1885, Page 3
- [v] WorthPoint.com Auction History “Important Hawaii Kilauea Volcano Oil on Jules Tavernier Canvas” Oct 06, 2013
June 14, 2021