Original Matson Lines Hawaii "Festival of the Sea" artwork lithograph by artist Eugene Savage taken from the well-known Matson Cruise Line's original menus. It is featured in the original bamboo frame chosen for the artwork. The art was used as a menu but they also sold these prints on cardboard. The Artist was Eugene Savage. Bought on ship or at the Royal Hawaiian Hotel and is in a bamboo frame. No menu items are listed, and no date of sailing on the back of this print.
It measures 21 1/2 in. x 12 in. Water stain on the back bottom but does not go through to the front. Beautiful colorful Hawaiian print. Much rarer than the menus. The menus were thin and had white edges and white backing and were usually folded. This is thicker brown cardboard and has never been folded. The ship had a gift shop where you could buy these prints. To the Hawaiian of old, fishing was not only a means of livelihood but an art and a sport. In the hukilau, it became a joyous, exciting community festival. Several large nets were fastened together to make a huge one...up to a thousand feet long. It was hauled out from shore in outrigger canoes and spread in a wide semi-circle. Weights along one edge made it sink.
This is a 9-color lithograph. The original painting hangs in the Smithsonian Institute as a permanent display. Eugene Savage was commissioned in 1938 to make a series of murals on Hawaiian themes for the Matson Navigation Company. "The Matson Murals" were completed in 1940 and were intended to be installed in the company's cruise ships. In 1948, lithographs based on these murals were used as menu covers on Matson's flagship, SS Lurline.
Measurements:12" Tall X 21.5" Wide X 1" Deep
United States, 1948
