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Frederick Ferdinand Schafer Painting Catalog

Painting record FFSd0991

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[photo] The Lake of Everlasting Fire, Sandwich Islands

Medium: oil on canvas
Size: 20 x 36 in (51 x 91 cm)
Inscription: l/l "F.Schafer" in red, in the artist's characteristic block printing hand
Verso: l/c "The Lake of Everlasting Fire / Sandwich Islands." in the artist's characteristic block printing hand
Provenance: Sold 14 August 2014 by Mroczek Brothers Seattle Auction House, Renton, Washington, for $5500+19% as lot 273C in "Fine Art, Modernism, Glass & Asian" sale; to Uno Langmann Limited, Vancouver, B.C., inventory j18723.
Reproductions: Mroczek Brothers Seattle Auction House (liveauctioneers.com) 14 August 2014 sale catalog, lot 273C; Uno Langmann Limited on-line catalog, 2014.
Site: Halema'uma'u, the fiery caldera of Kilauea volcano on the island of Hawai'i, probably during the 1884-1885 period of activity.
Note: 1. The title identifies the site using the names it was known by at the time. "The Lake of Everlasting Fire" is a translation into English of Halema'uma'u, and "Sandwich Islands" was the name assigned in 1778 by British explorer Captain James Cook (1728-1779) after the Earl of Sandwich. The traditional native name "Hawai'i" was coming into use in America but had not completely caught on by the 1880s. 2. Apart from this painting, no other evidence has emerged of a visit by Schafer to Hawai'i. This work may have been inspired by the many paintings of the Kilauea Caldera by the artist Jules Tavernier. Tavernier was an active member of the San Francisco Art Association at the same time as Schafer, so he undoubtedly knew Tavernier and his work.
Identification: Title from the artist's verso inscription.
In index(es): Title list, miscellaneous other well-known landmarks, unusual subjects--still life, cityscapes, twenty representative works by the artist

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Mar 10, 2024, 11:47 MDT Accessibility