HONOLULU (HI Now) - The exhibition Home of the Tigers: McKinley High and Modern Art explores the impact of a single high school on visual art in Hawaiʻi. It brings together work by seven artists who graduated from McKinley High School in the 1920s to the 1960s and went on to define modernism in Hawaiʻi. The artists are Saturo Abe (b. 1926), Raymond Han (1931-2017), Ralph Iwamoto (1927-2013), Imaikalani Kalahele (b.1950), Keichi Kimura (1914-1988), Robert Kobayashi (1925-2015) and John Chin Young (1909–1997). The exhibition also presents work by three artists who were their high school teachers, Minnie Fujita (1918-2018), Charles Higa (1933-2012), and Shirley Russell (1886-1985). While each artist was shaped by their different background and experiences in the art world, Home of the Tigers charts the history of 20th century artistic movements in Hawaiʻi and beyond through the lens of their common origin.
This exhibition connects a very local history with the currents of national and international art histories, and invites the communities of Honolulu to explore their own history in a wider context.
Visit the Honolulu Museum of Art to experience “Home of the Tigers: McKinley High and Modern Art,” on view now through Jan. 12, 2025.
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