Canadian born Alexander Samuel MacLeod (1888-1956) arrived in Hawaii in the early 1920s and, while working in the art departments of the magazine Paradise of the Pacific and the local papers, The Honolulu Advertiser and the Honolulu Star-Bulletin, he...

continue reading

Canadian born Alexander Samuel MacLeod (1888-1956) arrived in Hawaii in the early 1920s and, while working in the art departments of the magazine Paradise of the Pacific and the local papers, The Honolulu Advertiser and the Honolulu Star-Bulletin, he was also an active member of the Honolulu's arts community. As a painter and a lithographer, he was celebrated for his direct and sympathetic representations of rural Oahu and Hawaii’s native population. Living many years on the Windward side of Oahu, he became familiar with the Koolau Mountains—their shapes, patterns, and spatial relationships—and the lifestyle of Hawaiians as they engaged in daily pursuits such as holding a hukilau, cultivating taro, preparing for a luau, etc. In a civilian capacity during World War II, MacLeod also supervised at Fort Shafter a staff of Army artists who recorded in oil and watercolor wartime Hawaii and combat in the Pacific. MacLeod himself created a body of prints depicting those who served in the military along the scenes that suggest the war’s impact on daily life.