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| A Bohemian spirit, Tavernier led a life that reads like an adventure novel. He was a world traveler and war correspondent, as well as a gifted painter. Born in Paris, France, Tavernier trained at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts and painted in Barbizon, adopting the rural subject matter, interest in atmospheric conditions, and heavy application of pigment characteristic of the first school of plein-air painting. Just as a huge influx of American painters was arriving in Paris in the 1870s, Tavernier immigrated to New York, where he worked as an illustrator for Harper’s Weekly. By 1874, he had settled in San Francisco, CA. There he spent the next decade painting the landscape of the region in a style informed by both the Barbizon and Hudson River Schools. In debt and with creditors on his heels, Tavernier boarded a ship bound for Honolulu, HI in 1884. There his main subject became the very activity that built the island chain, the erupting volcanoes. Sublime in concept, Kilauea Caldera, Sandwich Islands, is a terrifying view into the fiery cauldron of the Kilauea crater on the large island of Hawaii. It is a monumental picture of great importance within Tavernier’s oeuvre. As an unusual daytime view of the erupting volcano, it allowed the artist to render convincing atmospheric effects. In fact, Tavernier approached this painting with the same considerations fundamental to the painters of the Hudson River School: a vivid, even spiritual, portrayal of the powerful forces of nature under a luminous sky, rendered in an emphatically horizontal format. The exotic locale is also in keeping with those chosen by the artists of the Hudson River School, such as Frederick Edwin Church and Martin Johnson Heade, who painted the Andes Mountains and Amazon Basin in South America. Due to a local policy prohibiting persons from leaving the islands before paying their debts, Tavernier remained in Hawaii until his death in 1889. A stone paid for by artist friends in San Francisco marks his grave in Honolulu.  (For Grades K-2) Which primary colors do you see in this painting? Secondary colors? Are these the real colors what you would see in nature? Which warm colors do you see in this painting? Cool colors? How do these colors make you feel when you look at this painting? Do you think the artist painted this artwork from real life or his imagination? Why? What do you think will happen next in the story of this painting? Does this artwork remind you of something you have seen before? (For Grades 3-5) Which primary colors do you see in this painting? Secondary colors? Are these the real colors what you would see in nature? Which warm colors do you see in this painting? Cool colors? How do these colors make you feel when you look at this painting? What areas of the painting are dark? What areas are light? Where is the light source in the painting? How does the artist show this? What is in the foreground of this painting? Background? How does the artist create this illusion on a flat surface? If you wanted to know how the artist made this artwork, which questions would you ask? |
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Jules Tavernier United States (born France), 1844-1889 Kilauea Caldera, Sandwich Islands Oil on canvas, 1886 Museum purchase with funds provided by Kevin and Tamara Kinsella 2002:35 © San Diego Museum of Art |
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