Hula Dancer - Hawaii

 

John Melville Kelly

  1879 - 1962 (biography)

c. 1942  

color aquatint, printed chine colle 

14 3/8 x 10 7/16" platemark 

pencil, lower right 

unique color proof from an unstated edition 

pencil titled; artist's studio blindstamp, lower right. 

Drucker, variant impression illustrated page 116 

cream tissue laid collaged to fibrous cream laid 

published 

artist 

CKCS105 

SOLD

John Kelly's ravishing depictions of Polynesians was, in fact, what distinguished him from other artists in Hawaii at the time. The Kellys immediately identified with the native Hawaiians and became their champions in images and in print. Kelly produced etchings and aquatints, primarily of human figures, though he occasionally did landscapes as well. He authored and illustrated "Etchings and Drawings of Hawaiians" in 1943, and "The Hula as Seen in Hawaii" in 1955. John Melville Kelly died in Honolulu in 1962.