Home of the Tigers, McKinley High and Modern Art

When married curators Alejandra Rojas Silva and Tyler Cann first joined the Honolulu Museum of Art two years ago, they were exploring the archives to familiarize themselves with the museum’s collection when they noticed something interesting. Some of Hawaii’s most prominent artists all had one thing in common, other than being from Hawaii: they attended McKinley High School.

“It was impressive how many times ‘McKinley High School’ came up in artists’ records,” Silva says. “Of all the schools in Hawaii, that one happened to be top of mind because it is only two blocks away. We always see McKinley students walking by in front of the museum so that really resonated.”

Silva and Cann’s discovery has led to a new exhibition at the Honolulu Museum opening September 28, Home of the Tigers: McKinley High and Modern Art, which celebrates the school that has fostered some of the biggest figures in Hawaii’s art world.

Seven artists who attended McKinley High School from the 1920s to the ‘60s—Satoru Abe, Raymond Han, Ralph Iwamoto, Imaikalani Kalahele, Keichi Kimura, Robert Kobayashi, and John Chin Young—made impressive names for themselves in the Islands and abroad across a range of different art movements, from abstract expressionism to minimalism to pop art.

“This exhibition is not trying to say that, because these students went to the same high school, they all became artists. Rather, from these students’ beginnings at McKinley, what unique path emerged for each of them?” says Silva.

Because the artists featured in Home of the Tigers come from different cultural backgrounds, attended McKinley at different times and created different types of artwork, curators Silva and Cann structured the exhibition like a tree: The main passageway provides context about the artists’ time at McKinley before branching into various corridors dedicated to different artists and their separate journeys later in life.

For example, Satoru Abe, Ralph Iwamoto, Keichi Kimura, Robert Kobayashi, and John Chin Young attended McKinley between the 1920s and ‘40s, and became well-regarded Abstract Expressionist painters and sculptures in the aftermath of World War II. In the 1950s, Abe, Iwamoto, and Kobayashi made their way to New York City to continue their studies at prestigious institutions, including the Art Students League and the Brooklyn Museum Art School.

(Home of the Tigers is paired with a companion exhibition, Satoru Abe: Reaching for the Sun, the first-ever retrospective of Abe’s seven-decade career that brings together more than 50 of the artist’s paintings, sculptures, and works on paper.)

Meanwhile, Young remained self-taught, creating art while traveling often between Hawaii, California, Mexico (more than 50 times), Paris each spring, and Hong Kong each fall. Kimura, who produced drawings while serving with the 100th Battalion of the 442nd Infantry Regiment during WWII, would go on to study art at Chouinard Art Institute in Los Angeles and Columbia University in New York City.

“Raymond Han also went to New York, but he mainly stayed upstate, creating still life paintings that are just gorgeous. Imaikalani Kalahele comes from more of an illustration background and is probably best known as a fabulous poet in Hawaii’s literary community,” Silva says.

“This group discovered their own artistic styles in different ways in different places later on. This exhibition explores their common origin as high school students,” says Cann. “I do think they share some things; they all had very influential teachers in high school who were very open to allowing people to find their own path.

Alongside works by the seven students in the exhibition, Home of the Tigers also presents works by their art teachers at McKinley—Minnie Fujita, Charles Higa, and Shirley Russell—who were celebrated artists in their own right and nurtured creative exploration in their classrooms.

Additionally, the HoMA team shared imagery from the exhibition with present-day McKinley art teachers, who incorporated the artwork into their curriculum. Current high school students then created paintings, drawings, and photographs inspired by McKinley’s Modern art masters, which will be on display in the museum’s Kinau Courtyard.

“We want to celebrate the talent and diversity of Hawaii artists from the 20th century. But we also want this exhibition to encourage students to visit the museum and see it as a place for them too,” says Silva. (Interestingly, McKinley High School used to be located in what is today the Honolulu Museum’s art school at Linekona.)

For Momi Akimseu, President of Bank of Hawaii Foundation, which is a major supporter of Home of the Tigers, this exhibition represents an opportunity to celebrate multiple generations of McKinley High School students while also making art accessible for the local community.

“We’re proud to help recognize the impact that one public school in our community has made in the global art world,” Akimseu says. “Our goal is for students at McKinley, and any school in Hawaii, to be inspired to become artists or pursue what they’re passionate about, whether that’s music, math, sports, information technology, or anything else.”

Akimseu (a Kamehameha Schools grad) is very familiar with the age-old adage in Hawaii, “Where did you go to high school?”—which serves as a touchstone for many locals that can provide a bit of background and sense of identity. To ask the question is an invitation to find common ground.

"It’s something people ask so they can make a connection,” says Akimseu. “In Hawaii, everybody knows somebody. You never know where opportunities may come that allow you to expand your network and build relationships that can turn into something really special."

Home of the Tigers: McKinley High and Modern Art will be on view at the Honolulu Museum of Art, 900 S Beretania Street in Honolulu, Hawaii, from September 28, 2024 to January 12, 2025.

Satoru Abe: Reaching for the Sun will run from October 18, 2024 to July 20, 2025.

To learn more, visit the Honolulu Museum of Art website.

Photos courtesy of Honolulu Museum of Art.