Kamehameha portrait may fetch king's ransom
By Will Hoover and Curtis Lum
Advertiser Staff Writers
One day in 1816, Kamehameha the Great sat down for three ink and watercolor portraits by Russian artist Louis Choris. Two of them are in the Honolulu Academy of Arts. And the other?
Encounters with Paradise
As O'ahu artist Jean Charlot said in his 1958 book, "Choris and Kamehameha," the whereabouts of one of those portraits was not known.
Russian artist Louis Choris painted three portraits of Kamehameha the Great, including this one from the Honolulu Academy of Arts.
Now, the long lost portrait may have turned up in the possession of the late Charlot's son, John Charlot, a professor of religion at the University of Hawai'i-Manoa.
The Charlot family says it wants to sell the drawing. If authentic, experts agree it is a historically significant find to the Hawaiiana and local art community. The disagreement is over how much it would fetch on the market. Those few who are acquainted with the drawing mention figures that range from a paltry $1,000 to an eye-popping $1 million.
For four decades what may be one of only three original portraits of King Kamehameha the Great — all by Choris on Nov. 24, 1816 — quietly resided in Charlot's Kahala home.
John Charlot said his father never kept the existence of the painting a secret.
"It was long lost before it was sold to my father, but he never published it," Charlot said. "My father, I think, should have written an article about it but he never did."
About a year after the publication of his book "Choris and Kamehameha," Jean Charlot heard from a man in New England who said he had the missing original, John Charlot said. The elder Charlot acquired the artwork but apparently said little about it.
Jean Charlot died in 1979 and his wife, Dorothy Zohmah, died in 2000. John Charlot says he purchased the drawing from his mother's estate.
"People who walked in the house, there was so much art — when my grandparents were alive — that this little thing, they might not have realized what it was," said Priscilla Charlot, granddaughter of Jean Charlot, who is handling the sale of the drawing.
John Charlot says one art expert who looked at the drawing doubted its authenticity. But at least one other prominent art expert says it's the real thing.
"I've seen it and it's authentic," said Don Severson, a recognized authority on Hawaiian art who has done art appraisals for various institutions, including the Bishop Museum and the Honolulu Academy of Arts.
Severson says he was contacted by the Charlot family, which invited him to have a look at the artwork. After inspecting the drawing, which bears a portion of Choris' signature in one corner, Severson says he is 90 percent certain that it's one of the three originals.
Severson also says the family told him that the first expert said the drawing was worth $1,000.
"I said 'what are you asking for it?' and they said, 'We'd like to get a million for it.' I like John, and I knew his dad, Jean Charlot ... but nobody is going to give them $1 million for it."
Severson says he placed the value at $50,000. He said he has spoken with other experts who agree with him on the market value of a third Choris original.
"At auction it might bring as much as $100,000," he said. "But then the auction house is going to want its pound of flesh."
According to Severson, there are plenty of collectors, including himself, who would want to own the drawing. However, he said the appropriate place for it would be the Honolulu Academy of Arts because they have the other drawings.
George Ellis, director of the Honolulu Academy of Arts, said he didn't know about the existence of the third portrait. But he admitted that if the drawing is authentic, he'd be happy to end up with it.
"Early portraits of Hawaiian people are important to have, period," Ellis said. "And, of course, a third portrait of King Kamehameha would be extraordinary. Having all three of them would make for a nice little triad, wouldn't it? The only known portraits of King Kamehameha — we'd be delighted."
However, Severson says there's a chance no one could see the third drawing. There are no known photos of it, as far as he knows. These days it's kept locked up tight in a bank vault.
And, "as long as they're saying it's worth a million dollars, it won't go anywhere."
