READ A WORK OF ART AS
YOU WOULD READ A BOOK
Art is a powerful pathway into the Hawai‘i Common Core

Observe

Describe Interpret Connect

Look closely and quietly.

What do you see?

What do you think thispainting is about and whatmakes you say that?

What does this remind you of?
Why? What more do you wantto know? Why?

Learn more at

HawaiiPublicSchools.org

ON THE COVER:

JulesTavernierFrench(1844–1889)
The Volcano at Night(Detail), 1885–89
Oil on canvas

The Artist:

Jules Tavernier
BORN IN PARIS, France, in 1844, Jules Tavernier attended

the École des Beaux-Arts and worked and exhibited in Parisand London before traveling to America. Beginning in 1872,
Tavernier traveled through the Great Plains states, sketchingand illustrating scenes. Reaching San Francisco in 1879,
Tavernier met Joseph Dwight Strong, a fellow painter withconnections to Hawai‘i. The two men became friends andwere among the founding members of the Bohemian Club,a private club of journalists, artists, and musicians that still
exists today. In 1882, Strong and his wife Isobel moved toHonolulu, Hawai‘i. Tavernier and his wife Lizzie followedtwo years later. During his six years in Hawai‘i, Tavernierearned acclaim for his volcano paintings. He died in 1889
at the age of 45.

LOOKING AT LANDSCAPES

A landscape is a genre of painting that may include
natural scenery, cities, the sea, and even people.
Landscapes give us clues to different places
and times.
Use these guiding words to get more out of looking
at a landscape painting.
PLACE Where is this scene? What details make thisplace unique?
SPACE How does your eye move through the painting?
What is the focal point? How does the artist create anillusion of depth on a flat surface?
TIME How does the artist use colors, lines, shapes,textures (the elements of art) to create a unique placein time? What details give you clues?
EXPLORE Imagine yourself entering this space—
where would you go and what would you do?
IDEAS What does this landscape make you think about?
VOCABULARY WORDS
LandscapeCityscapeSeascape
Viewpoint
Focal point

Perspective
Foreground
Middle ground
Background
Overlap

Diminishing size
HorizonElements of art

The Artwork:

Volcano at Night

Beginning in the 1880s, the volcanic eruptions of Kīlauea and Mauna Loa attracted
artists and writers from around the world to the island of Hawai‘i. Author and humorist
Mark Twain, on assignment for the Sacramento Daily Union, described seeing Kīlauea
at night: “…the vast floor of the desert under us was as black as ink, and apparently
smooth and level; but over a mile square of it was ringed and streaked and stripedwith a thousand branching streams of liquid and gorgeously brilliant fire! Imagine it—imagine a coal-black sky shivered into a tangled network of angry fire!” Kīlauea wassuch a popular subject for painters that a group emerged called “the Volcano School,”which included well-known Hawai‘i painters Charles Furneaux, Joseph Dwight Strong,and D. Howard Hitchcock—and Tavernier was the most famous of all of them. It’s easy
to see why people were so excited by the Volcano School paintings—the bright reds
and oranges of fiery lava are a dramatic contrast against the dark black night sky.
Perhaps these works encouraged people in the United States and beyond to travelto the islands as well as purchase or commission similar artworks. As two of themost active volcanoes in the world, Kīlauea and Mauna Loa continue to attract
visitors today.

Westward migration:
When Jules Tavernier ended up in San Francisco after traveling the Great Plains,
the notion of exploring and visually documenting the American West was popular.
Events such as the California gold rush (1848-1855) and construction of the Transcontinental
Railroad (1863-1869) encouraged Americans, artists included, to head west. The Honolulu
Museum of Art collection also includes a painting of Yosemite, in California, by Albert
Bierstadt (1830-1902), who is considered the greatest interpreter of the American West.
This type of landscape painting, in the second half of the 19th century, directly influenced
Jules Tavernier and other artists who were painting landscapes in the Hawaiian Islands.

Observe, Describe, Interpret, Connect(ODIC)

Teaching Ideas• Reading a text set or a number of texts within a topic
increases knowledge and vocabulary far faster than any
other approach. You might have students investigate theimpact volcanic eruptions have had on people in Hawai‘iby reading a set of articles and examining multimedia
sites. Excellent resources for building text sets are linked
on the museum website.
• Students can compare the painting with the descriptionsof the volcano written by Mark Twain, who spent fourmonths traveling in Hawai‘i, including visiting Kilauea.
They could reflect on what each medium is able tocapture and emphasize. Links to Twain’s writing arealso on the museum’s website.
• “Patterns” is one of the Crosscutting Concepts in theNext Generation Science Standards (NGSS). Students canuse observed patterns in the natural world to organize
and classify information, generate questions, and develop
explanations. What patterns do students observe in thepainting? Are there observable patterns in the locationof volcanoes across the earth? What similarities anddifferences exist between different types of volcanic
rock? After volcanoes erupt, is there an order inwhich plants typically grow? How can such patterns
be explained?
• The baking soda and vinegar volcano model is an
old standby science fair project. However, in NGSS,
models are more than just physical representations.
Models should also help students to make predictions
and construct explanations. Challenge students todevelop a model that can help explain how volcanoes
are formed, the relative heights of different typesof volcano eruptions, different volcano shapes, how
volcanoes impact ecosystems or climate, or othernatural phenomena related to volcanoes.

Four simple steps to engage with art:
The key to this looking strategy is to prompt students todescribe and report as much as they see, with evidence
from within the artwork.
You may be surprised by what they come up withgiven the opportunity to just look.
The hardest part is allowing time to look on their own—
resist the urge to share what you see or what you thinkthey should see.
OBSERVE: Start by taking a minute or two
to do some silent, close looking.
DESCRIBE: Have students describe what they see,using evidence from within the artwork.
What is the first thing you notice? Where do you
see that? How is the artist showing you that?
What more can you find?

The museum offers:
Free guided school tours
Teacher resources
Lending Collection
Outreach programs
Art School classes
To learn more,
go to honolulumuseum.org
and click on Learn

INTERPRET: Have students interpret what they see,by thinking about the time, place, mood, intention,and content of the painting.

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CONNECT: Have students connect the artwork
to their own lives to make it relevant.
Does this remind you of something from your own life?
Can you relate to what’s going on in this picture?
What more do you want to know? If you could ask theartist one question about the image, what would it be?

1921222723
25Black triggerﬁsh,
Melichthys niger,
humuhumu‘ele‘ele
Unknown
Unknown
Hawaiian squirrelﬁsh,ala ‘ihi
Mullet, ‘ama ‘ama
Halfbeak, ihe ihe
7. Brick soldierﬁsh, ‘ū‘ū
8. Leatherback, lae
9. Mullet, ‘ama ‘ama
10. Marlin (Bill), a‘u
11. Halfbeak, ihe ihe
12. Halfbeak, ihe ihe
13. Pearl wrasse, ‘ōpule
14. Peacock wrasse, laenihi
15. Scorpionﬁsh, nohu
16. Brown Surgeonﬁsh, mā‘i‘i‘i
17. 7 11 Crab, ‘alakuma
18. Yellowﬁn goatﬁsh,weke‘ula
19. Goldring surgeonﬁsh, kole
20. Mullet, ‘ama ‘ama
21. Raccoon butterﬂyﬁsh,kikakapu
22. Moorish idol, kihikihi
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26

Milletseed butterﬂyﬁsh,lau wiliwili
Hawaiian dascyllus,‘ālo‘ilo‘i
Hawaiian sergeant,maomaoThreadﬁn butterﬂyﬁsh,kīkākapu
Lei triggerﬁsh,humuhumu lei
28. Hawaiian hogﬁsh, ‘a‘awa
29. Peacock wrasse, laenihi
30. Flying ﬁsh, malolo
31. Pinktail triggerﬁsh,humuhumu hi‘ukolu
32. Surge wrasse, hou
33. Barred ﬁleﬁsh, ‘ō‘ili
34. Multibar goatﬁsh, po‘ou
35. Stingray, hīhīmanu
36. Octopus, he‘e mauli
37. Regal parrotﬁsh, lauia
38. Bird wrasse, hīnālea ‘i‘iwi
39. Whitesaddle goatﬁsh,kūmū
40. Saddleback wrasse,
hīnālea lauwili

57

Whitesaddle goatﬁsh,kūmūMustache conger eel,puhi ūhāUnknown
Giant trevally, ulua aukea
Bluespine unicornﬁsh,kalaBoneﬁsh, ‘ō‘io
47. Lined coris, mālamalama
48. Bonito, Polamiseuthynnus, kawakawa
49. Redlip parrotﬁsh, Scarus
rubroviolaceus,
paluka luka
50. Bonito
51. Hawaiian hogﬁsh, ‘a‘awa
52. Unknown
53. Cigar wrasse, Cheilio
inermis, kupoupou
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55. Unknown
56. Spiny lobster, ula
57. Glass eye squirrelﬁsh,
Heteropriacanthus
cruentatus, ‘aweoweo

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For images, connections to Wonders,and Next Generation Science Standards,
and other classroom resources, visit
honolulumuseum.org, click on Learn inthe menu and go to Teacher Resources.