He is the Greek ideal, with the added beauty of dark gold skin and ebony hair. Tennent's paintings of Hawaiian women are large, occasionally huge, and often riotous with strokes of color applied by a deftly wielded palette knife. No angles here, it's all curved form. The fingers curl upon their owner's lap like the petals of an emerging blossom. Garments of color drape rounded breasts, thighs, stomachs, knees.
Arms are usually bare and flowers often accentuate the graceful beauty of a subject's face.
To be sure, there were those, mostly other gifted artists, who appreciated her visionary canvases. But the common response was typically caustic. In counterpoint to her oils, Madge Tennent's drawings enjoyed enormous respect and popularity. A master of ink, charcoal, watercolor and penciled crayon, she could create exquisite portraits from just a few lines sketched with a seemingly effortless grace. D.C. Closer to home, the Honolulu Academy of Arts and the Tennent Foundation Gallery contain large collections of her work.