(BIVN) – The Herb Kāne ʻOhana has gifted the intellectual property rights to the late artist-historian’s work to the Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum, the State of Hawai‘i Museum of Natural and Cultural History. 

In a news release, the Museum expressed its deep appreciation for the gift facilitated by Mr. Kāne’s widow, Deon Kāne, and supported by his children Susan Kāne and Douglas Kāne. 

“We are incredibly moved by the meaningfulness and generosity of this gift,” said Dee Jay Mailer, Bishop Museum president and CEO, in a statement. “Herb Kāne has touched so many people in so many different ways, and his connections with Bishop Museum and our Mission run deep. It is our intent to help preserve and perpetuate his legacy through our work in Hawaiʻi and Pacific cultures, as well as our engagement with these communities.” 

The Bishop Museum is home to more than 25 million objects and specimens, including “more than 22 million biological specimens, over 2 million cultural objects, 115,000 historical publications, and 1 million photographs, films, works of art, audio recordings, and manuscripts.” 

File photo of the Hawaiian Hall within Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum on Oʻahu, taken in 2019

From a Bishop Museum news release:

Known as an artist-historian and author, Herbert “Herb” Kawainui Kāne had a special interest in Hawaiʻi, the Pacific, and throughout Oceania. Raised in Waipiʻo Valley and Hilo on Hawaiʻi Island, he studied at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, who awarded him with an honorary doctorate degree, and at the University of Chicago after serving in the Navy.

Mr. Kāne’s illustrious career has spanned advertising, publishing, architectural design, printing, writing, and sculpture work, and his clients have included everything from government agencies to major publishers and private collectors. His art has appeared on United States and international postage stamps, and he authored several books on Hawaiʻi and the Pacific.

Mr. Kāne’s interest in and research of Polynesian canoes and voyaging led to his participation as general designer and builder of the sailing canoe Hōkūleʻa, on which he served as its first captain in 1975. He was also one of the founders of the Polynesian Voyaging Society.

He is globally known for paintings that expertly depict the many types of Polynesian and Micronesian sailing canoes that were used on historic voyages across the Pacific, as well as his artwork illustrating the history and culture of the Hawaiian and Polynesian islands.

File photo of the exterior of Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum on Oʻahu, taken in 2019

“We know Herb’s legacy will be kept alive and vibrant through Bishop Museum’s strength of public programming and educational outreach,” said Deon Kāne. “Herb’s research and drawings, together with Bishop Museum’s Pacific collections and research, provided the inspiration for Pacific Island nations to review their voyaging traditions, and he played a key role in rediscovering the art of celestial navigation in the Museum’s Planetarium. Herb also had a long professional relationship and friendship with Dr. Yosihiko Sinoto, a Bishop Museum archaeologist.”

“Herb has many connections with the Museum, and we know his art and legacy will live on through this gift,” said Kāne.