Honolulu Academy of Arts

Lonely Planet review

The Honolulu Academy of Arts covers the artistic traditions of almost every continent, with a leading role in the area of Pacific Rim art. The splendid Asian gallery is considered one of the finest Asian art collections in the USA, and it gives almost equal weight to both Japanese and Chinese works, ranging from scenes of Kyoto, painted by the renowned Japanese artist Kano Motohide, to the extensive Ming dynasty collection.

The latter includes pivotal works by Shen Zhou, credited with establishing a composition technique that significantly influenced Ming painting styles. The museum's collection has been bolstered by the acquisition of the Richard Lane Collection, a leading Japanese art scholar with a focus on wood-block printed books. The Henry R Luce Pavilion, a 10,000-sq-ft contemporary section, contains Hawaiian artifacts and paintings on the upper level. A gallery of European art of the 19th and 20th centuries exhibits paintings by Henri Matisse, Paul Cezanne, Claude Monet, Paul Gauguin, Vincent van Gogh and Camille Pissarro. The museum also contains works of 16th- to 18th-century European artists Pieter de Hotch, Sir Thomas Lawrence and Carlo Bonavia, and a number of Madonna-and-child oils from 14th-century Italy.Pacific art collections include ceremonial carvings, war clubs and masks from Papua New Guinea, and body ornaments and navigational stick charts from Micronesia. The museum owns some fine eclectic pieces, sculptures and miniature figurines from India, and fertility figures and ceremonial carvings from Africa. The museum also conducts tours to Shangri La, Doris Duke's estate near Diamond Head. The tobacco heiress was an avid Islamic-art collector and her secluded home incorporates elements of Islamic design as well as religiously significant works. Tours (around US$25 ) depart from the museum and are not recommended for children under 12; reservations are advised.