Jules Tavernier (1844-1889) Exploring the Lava Beds 8 3/8 x 12 1/2 in. (21.3 x 31.8 cm) (Painted...

Jules Tavernier (1844-1889) Exploring the Lava Beds unsigned, with a label from Betty Hoag McGlynn (on the reverse) oil on board 8 3/8 x 12 1/2 in. (21.3 x 31.8 cm) Painted circa 1885. Footnotes: Provenance The artist. David Howard Hitchcock (1861-1943), acquired from the above. Howard Harvey Hitchcock (1899-1982), acquired from the above by descent. Arne Coward (1920-1979), Honolulu, Hawai'i, acquired from the above. Private collection, acquired from the above by descent. Sale, Mystic Fine Arts, Mystic, Connecticut, January 3, 1996, lot 124 (as 'Exploring the Volcano') Private collection, Hawai'i, acquired from the above. Adamson-Duvannes Galleries, Los Angeles, California, February 2000, acquired from the above. The Collection of Dean and Marsha Curry, July 2012, acquired from the above. Jules Tavernier's interest in Hawaiʻi in the early 1880s was sparked by fellow artists who traveled there like Joseph Strong and William Coulter, and Mother Nature's fiery displays including the eruptions of Mauna Loa. The artist was taken with Hawaiʻi before he even traveled there, as he produced several artworks derived from other artist's images. With the additional impetus of declining health and significant debts, he decamped from San Francisco rather abruptly in 1884. Tavernier, as the San Franciscan colorfully put it in 1885, painted so much in and around the volcanos that he 'singed all the hair off his head.' Splitting his time between Honolulu and Hilo, Tavernier made the acquaintance of the Hitchcock family and strongly encouraged the young D. Howard Hitchcock in pursuing his artistic career. In Exploring the Lava Beds, Tavernier uses a restrained palette to convey a great depth of field and a sense of wonder at the meeting of land and sea. While the specific significance of the painting is lost, we know that it came directly from Tavernier to Hitchcock. It is easy to see something of the self-portrait in the curious figures adventuring onto a new land, just as Tavernier's wanderlust took him from one continent to another in his too short life. For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com For further information about this lot please visit the lot listing