Posted on: Sunday, June 8, 2003

By Bob Krauss
Advertiser Columnist

Tomorrow we will celebrate a historical event that I'm sure is on the tip of your tongue, only it's slipped your mind: the 225th anniversary of the first Swiss citizen in Hawai'i.

Granted, the arrival of one Swiss citizen in 1778 doesn't rank up there with Kamehameha Day. But we celebrate the arrival of the first citizens from Japan and China and Korea. Why shouldn't we recognize the arrival of Johann Waber?

Maybe the common translation of his name will ring a bell: John Webber, the artist who sailed with Captain James Cook.

Webber was to Captain Cook what pioneer photographer Mathew Brady was to the Civil War.

One of the things that makes Hawaiian history so interesting is that so many talented people from so many different places have contributed to the story.

It's time we understood the significance of the paintings Webber did in Hawai'i and all over Polynesia.

"Rarely had the drawings of one man influenced the civilized world to such a degree," Niklaus R. Schweizer wrote in his authoritative book, "Hawaii and the German Speaking Peoples."

What Webber did by realistically painting Polynesian landscapes, canoes, houses and tools was set the art world on a course away from romantic, idealized images of people and nature. He was changing how we looked at the world the way pioneer scientists were changing our concept of how the world works.

Long before photography, Webber painted realistic detail because his job on the expedition was to accurately record images. Cook ordered him to do it. This was the opposite approach of the neoclassical school that held the artist's concept more important than the real thing.

One reason Webber's drawings made such an impact was that Cook's journals, when they were published, became runaway best sellers. What readers got was a travelogue with an atlas.

"Webber's drawings were deemed so important by the Admiralty that the publication of the three-volume work on Cook's third voyage was delayed until 1784 (four years) to give sufficient time to the various engravers employed," wrote Schweizer.

It's true that engravers in Europe couldn't resist idealizing Webber's work. But without his drawings, we would not know what an ancient Hawaiian canoe looked like. Or the shape of the sail. Where do you suppose the design for Hokule'a came from?

Webber had to sketch scenes as they happened. Back on board ship, he would complete the sketches in oil or watercolors.

Today, one of those sketches is worth more than you have in the bank.

Bob Krauss' columns run on Sundays and Wednesdays. Reach him at 525-8073.