Juliette May Fraser (January 27, 1887 – July 31, 1983) was an American painter, muralist and printmaker. She was born in Honolulu, which was then the capital city of the

Kingdom of Hawaii The Hawaiian Kingdom, or Kingdom of Hawaiʻi ( Hawaiian: ''Ko Hawaiʻi Pae ʻĀina''), was a sovereign state located in the Hawaiian Islands. The country was formed in 1795, when the warrior chief Kamehameha the Great, of the independent island ...

. After graduating from

Wellesley College Wellesley College is a private women's liberal arts college in Wellesley, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1870 by Henry and Pauline Durant as a female seminary, it is a member of the original Seven Sisters Colleges, an unofficial g ...

with a degree in art, she returned to Hawaii for several years. She continued her studies with

Eugene Speicher Eugene (Edward) Speicher NA (April 5, 1883 – May 11, 1962) was an American portrait, landscape, and figurative painter. He was one of the foremost realists of his generation who closely upheld the mantle of his mentor, Robert Henri. Biography ...

and

Frank DuMond Frank Vincent DuMond (August 20, 1865 – February 6, 1951) was one of the most influential teacher-painters in 20th-century America. He was an illustrator and American Impressionist painter of portraits and landscapes, and a prominent teac ...

at the

Art Students League of New York The Art Students League of New York is an art school at 215 West 57th Street in Manhattan, New York City, New York. The League has historically been known for its broad appeal to both amateurs and professional artists. Although artists may stu ...

and at the John F. Carlson School of Landscape Painting in Woodstock, New York. She returned to Hawaii to teach, like her parents who had both come to Hawaii as educators. Fraser designed the

Hawaii Sesquicentennial half dollar The Hawaii Sesquicentennial half dollar was struck in 1928 by the United States Bureau of the Mint in honor of the 150th anniversary of Captain James Cook's landing in Hawaii, the first European to reach there. The coin depicts Captain Cook o ...

, which was engraved by

Chester Beach Chester A. Beach (May 23, 1881 – August 6, 1956) was an American sculptor who was known for his busts and medallic art. Early life Beach was born in San Francisco, California. He studied initially at the California School of Mechanical Arts ...

and issued in 1928. In 1934, during the

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

, Fraser was invited to create a work of art for the Hawaii State Library by the Works Progress Administration. For three months she received $35 a week to work on the project. When the funds ran out, she continued on her own until ten murals were completed. Fraser also created murals for the 1939 Golden Gate International Exposition (now installed in lobby of the Hamilton Library, University of Hawaii at Manoa) and the Ypapandi (or Ypapanti) Chapel on Chios Island in Greece. She died in Honolulu in 1983. The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco,

Hawaii State Art Museum The No. 1 Capitol District Building, on the site of the former Armed Services YMCA Building, now houses the Hawaii State Art Museum and the Hawaii State Foundation on Culture and the Arts. History While they were both in the cabinet, under King ...

, Hawaii State Library, Honolulu Museum of Art,

Isaacs Art Center The Isaacs Art Center is an art museum and retail gallery in Waimea on the Island of Hawaii. It is operated by and for the benefit of the Hawaii Preparatory Academy; all proceeds benefit the school's scholarship fund. In addition to its retail ...

, Library of Congress (Washington, D. C.), Metropolitan Museum of Art, Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art (Kansas City, Missouri) and University of Hawaii at Manoa are among the public collections holding works by Juliette May Fraser.

References

* Armitage, George Thomas, ''Ghost dog and other Hawaiian'', illustrated by Juliette May Fraser, Honolulu, Hawaii, Advertiser Publishing Co., 1944. * Colum, Padraic, ''At the gateways of the day'', with illustrations by Juliette May Fraser, New Haven, Yale University Press, 1924. * Colum, Padraic, ''The bright islands'', with illustrations by Juliette May Fraser, New Haven, Yale university press, 1925. * Department of Education, State of Hawaii, ''Artists of Hawaii'', Honolulu, Department of Education, State of Hawaii, 1985, pp. 23–30. * Forbes, David W., ''Encounters with Paradise: Views of Hawaii and its People, 1778-1941'', Honolulu Academy of Arts, 1992, 210-247. * Fraser, Juliette May and Katherine B. Allen (interviewer), "Juliette May Fraser", The Watumull Foundation, Oral History Project, Honolulu, 1979. * Haar, Francis and Neogy, Prithwish, ''Artists of Hawaii: Nineteen Painters and Sculptors'', University of Hawaii Press, 1974, 58-65. * Hartwell, Patricia L. (editor), ''Retrospective 1967-1987'', Hawaii State Foundation on Culture and the Arts, Honolulu, Hawaii, 1987, p. 33 * Honolulu Academy of Arts, ''Juliette May Fraser, A Retrospective Honoring the Artist's 85th Year'', Honolulu Academy of Arts, 1972. * Morris, Nancy J
"The Murals of Ipapandi Chapel, Chios: A Cultural Bridge Between Greece and Hawai'i"
''The Hawaiian Journal of History'', 1994. * Morse, Morse (ed.), ''Honolulu Printmakers'', Honolulu, HI, Honolulu Academy of Arts, 2003, pp. 23, 47 & 53, * Papanikolas, Theresa and DeSoto Brown, ''Art Deco Hawai'i'', Honolulu, Honolulu Museum of Art, 2014, , pp. 74–75 * Pratt, Helen Gay, ''The Hawaiians: an island people''. Drawings by Rosamond S. Morgan and Juliette May Fraser, Rutland, Vt., C. E. Tuttle Co., 1963. * Pratt, Helen Gay, ''Outdoors in Hawaii''. Illustrated by Juliette May Fraser, New York, Scribner, 1948. * Radford, Georgia and Warren Radford, ''Sculpture in the Sun, Hawaii's Art for Open Spaces'', University of Hawaii Press, 1978, 92-93. * Sandulli, Justin M., ''Troubled Paradise: Madge Tennent at a Hawaiian Crossroads'', Durham, NC: Duke University, 2016. * Slabaugh, Arlie, "Hawaiian Sesquicentennial Half Dollar", ''Numismatic Scrapbook'' Magazine, August 20, 1960, 2462. * Yoshihara, Lisa A., ''Collective Visions, 1967-1997'', An Exhibition Celebrating the 30th Anniversary of the State Foundation on Culture and the Arts, Art in Public Places Program, Presented at the Honolulu Academy of Arts, September 3-October 12, 1997, Honolulu, State Foundation on Culture and the Arts, 1997, p. 18. {{DEFAULTSORT:Fraser, Juliette May American women painters Wellesley College alumni Art Students League of New York alumni Artists from Honolulu John F. Carlson School of Landscape Painting alumni Hawaiian Kingdom people 1887 births 1983 deaths Works Progress Administration workers Painters from Hawaii American women printmakers Printmakers from Hawaii 20th-century American painters 20th-century American women artists 20th-century American printmakers American currency designers Coin designers

References

Further reading