Herb Kawainui Kāne

Herb Kawainui Kāne
Born
Herbert Kawainui Kāne

(1928-06-21)June 21, 1928
DiedMarch 8, 2011(2011-03-08) (aged 82)
South Kona, Hawaii, U.S.
EducationSchool of the Art Institute of Chicago (BA, MA)
Occupations
  • Artist
  • historian
  • author
  • architect
Known for
TelevisionThe Wayfinders: A Pacific Odyssey (advisor)
Board member ofNative Hawaiian Culture & Arts Program, Bishop Museum (founding trustee)
AwardsCharles Reed Bishop Medal (1998), Living Treasures of Hawai'i (1984)

Herbert Kawainui Kāne (June 21, 1928 – March 8, 2011) was an American artist and historian of Native Hawaiian ancestry. His work focused largely on the seafaring traditions of the ancestral Hawaiian people.

Kāne created artworks depicting Hawaiian culture as it existed before European contact and immediately after. The themes of his paintings include war, such as in the painting Battle of Nuʻuanu; the potential for conflict between cultures, such as in Cook Entering Kealakekua Bay, where British ships were dwarfed and surrounded by Hawaiian canoes; and everyday scenes and images of ceremonial and spiritual life.