Backbone of the King and Other Marcia Brown Stories

(11/13/08 - 12/31/08)

Free and open during all library hours

A gift of original art and autographed books by children's author and illustrator, Marcia Brown, has been made by Carol Ann Jenkins in memory of her mother, Dr. Esther Call Jenkins. Devoted to children's literature, Dr. Jenkins was a professor in the UH College of Education, 1948 -1975. The gift reveals her close professional and personal relationship with Brown that culminated in the 1966 publication of Backbone of the King. This book, a translation of a Hawaiian hero legend, was dedicated to Jenkins and illustrated by Brown's sensitive linoleum prints, originals of which are on display. The gift will be housed in the Jean Charlot Collection where it complements the existing holdings of books given by Marcia Brown, a three-time Caldecott Medal winner, to the Charlot family over their many years of friendship. A selection of award-winning titles, with delightful inscriptions and drawings, is included in the exhibit.

For more information, please contact Bron Solyom, Curator, Jean Charlot Collection, at 956.2849 or brons@hawaii.edu

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Pioneers in Okinawan Studies at UH

(07/01/08 - 08/22/08)

This display honors seven individuals who have contributed to the study of Okinawa at UH. They are: Shunzo Sakamaki, Frank Hawley, William Lebra, Henry Nakasone, Mitsugu Sakihara, Robert Sakai, and Ruth Adaniya.

Sponsored by the Center for Japanese Studies

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Image and Word: Jean Charlot and the Way of the Cross

(03/09/08 - 06/15/08)

Jean Charlot's lifelong commitment to liturgical art is explored in his numerous representations of the Stations of the Cross, showing his stylistic progression from 1918 through 1971. Drawing primarily on the resources of the Library's Jean Charlot Collection, the exhibit embodies aspects of Charlot's life as an artist, as an art historian, and as a devout Roman Catholic for whom observance of the cycles of the Church calendar were part of daily practice. It includes photographs and documentation of five mural series from churches on Kauai and Oahu. Whether drawings, prints, oil paintings, murals in ceramic tile or poured cement, or even cartoons, each representation of the Stations shows Charlot's constant quest for clarity through greater simplification. He fought accusations of "ugliness" and avoided clinical functionalism, to achieve the honesty and sincerity he considered essential to express the power and emotions associated with this most deeply felt religious theme.

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Georg Von Békésy

More about Georg Von Békésy...

(01/07/08 - 02/29/08)

Georg von Békésy was born in Budapest, Hungary on June 3,1899; he died in Honolulu on June 13, 1972. He was the only Nobel prize winner to ever work at the University of Hawai´i. In 1961 he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine for his research on the function of the cochlea in the mammalian hearing organ.

His hobby was collecting art objects and books about art. The Von Békésy art books cover the Ancient Near East, Classical Byzantine, Iran and the Islamic World, India, Cambodia and Thailand, East Asia (China, Korea, Japan), Europe, Africa and the Americas.