Exhibitions
View the Latest Installation in Hawaiian Hall: Fifty Years of Life: ʻUmeke from King Kalākaua’s Jubilee
The Bishop Museum installation features three ʻumeke (bowls) gifted to King David Kalākaua for his 50th birthday on Nov. 16, 1886.
# View the Latest Installation in Hawaiian Hall: Fifty Years of Life: ʻUmeke from King Kalākaua's Jubilee
The Bishop Museum installation features three ʻumeke (bowls) gifted to King David Kalākaua for his 50th birthday on Nov. 16, 1886.
Honolulu, Hawaiʻi — Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum announces the latest installation in its historic Hawaiian Hall, Fifty Years of Life: ʻUmeke from King Kalākaua's Jubilee. The third-floor installation features three ʻumeke gifted to King David Kalākaua for his 50th birthday on November 16, 1886, and a bust of Kalākaua made by British sculptor Allen Hutchinson.
"King Kalākaua is one our most beloved monarchs and the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi celebrated his 50th birthday with 14 days of festivities," said Sarah Kuaiwa, Bishop Museum curator of Hawaiʻi and Pacific cultural resources, and curator of the installation. "Part of our kuleana is to celebrate the lives of our aliʻi and we're happy this installation will be on view during Kalākaua's birthday this year."
King Kalākaua is remembered fondly for his active promulgation of Hawaiian culture both nationally and internationally. As a supporter of Native art forms, technological innovation, and science, the aesthetics of Kalākaua's governance demonstrated the king's pride in the nation and its ingenuity. Through his acts of diplomacy, Kalākaua spread Hawaiian culture around the world, while asserting the independence of his country. He is also the first reigning monarch to visit the White House in 1874, and the first to circumnavigate the globe in 1881.
Fifty Years of Life: ʻUmeke from King Kalākaua's Jubilee provides a glimpse into how Kalākaua's subjects and relatives reflected the national aesthetic back to the king himself. In Hawaiʻi and across Oceania, the act of gift-giving solidifies and strengthens reciprocal relations. The respect and aloha citizens felt toward King Kalākaua was evident in the sheer amount of ʻumeke he received for the occasion of his 50th birthday. ʻUmeke symbolize sustenance and plenitude because of their use in customarily carrying food and water. The three 'umeke on view that were given to Kalākaua display what were contemporary interpretations of Hawaiian 'umeke and illustrate new experiments by woodworkers in creating different styles of bowls.
Kuaiwa worked with Director of Exhibits & Production Brad Evans and Graphic Designer Ross Yamanaka to create an installation that reflected some of the events that took place during Kalākaua's Jubilee.
"King Kalākaua's Jubilee was a two-week event and we wanted to showcase various aspects of the celebrations in the installation design," said Evans. "We have the three historic bowls, a bronze bust of King Kalākaua, and images that were taken during some of the festivities, including one of the throne room at ʻIolani Palace filled with gifts. There are also replicas of ephemera from Bishop Museum Archives that give us a sense of the excitement surrounding the events honoring the king's birthday. Across the front glass it says, 'Long Live the King' with an emblem specific to Kalākaua's Jubilee."
"In putting this installation together, we inserted a few details for people to search for, such as finding the ʻumeke in the throne room photo," Kuaiwa shared. "We hope for local ʻohana and visitors to come visit this installation and get a feel for the festivities that Kalākaua enjoyed during the celebrations."
Fifty Years of Life: ʻUmeke from King Kalākaua's Jubilee is on view on the third floor, Diamond Head-end of Hawaiian Hall through June 2024. For more information on Bishop Museum and its cultural collections, visit BishopMuseum.org and follow @BishopMuseum.
About Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum, the State of Hawaiʻi Museum of Natural and Cultural History
Bishop Museum’s mission is to inspire our community and visitors through the exploration, celebration, and perpetuation of the extraordinary history, culture, and environment of Hawaiʻi and the Pacific. The Museum was founded in 1889 by Charles Reed Bishop in memory of his wife Bernice Pauahi Bishop, a royal descendant of King Kamehameha I. Today, the Museum thrives as an educational center for the community and is widely regarded as the world’s premier institution for Hawaiian and Pacific content.
Bishop Museum’s vast collections of more than 25 million objects and specimens represent nine disciplines and include 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. These collections tell the stories of the cultures and biodiversity of Hawaiʻi and the Pacific as well as the proud legacy of scholarly research spanning 130 years.
Bishop Museum proudly serves more than 200,000 visitors each year, including 20,000 children on school visits. Guests are encouraged to pre-plan their trip to #HawaiisMuseum with its free digital guide, available through Bloomberg Connects.
To learn more about the Museum’s research, collections, exhibits, and programs, visit BishopMuseum.org, follow @BishopMuseum on Facebook and Instagram, visit Bishop Museum’s YouTube channel, or call (808) 847-3511. Bishop Museum is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.
Bishop Museum is proud to be an Equal Employment Opportunity and Affirmative Action Employer, and welcomes applicants from the military, veterans, and those with disabilities. Learn about careers at Bishop Museum at BishopMuseum.org/Careers and on its LinkedIn page.
Bishop Museum Press is Hawaiʻi’s oldest book publisher and one of the first scholarly publishers in the Western Hemisphere, and has published over 1,200 titles and distributed over 1 million books in 72 countries worldwide. Bishop Museum hosts a restaurant and gift shop on campus, Tūtū’s Place by Highway Inn and Shop Pacifica by Nā Mea Hawaiʻi.