Charles Furneaux (1835-1913)

American easel painter and photographer Charles Furneaux worked in the Hawaiian Islands and South Seas, and was an “old master” in the Volcano School of Painting. His career began at age forty-five, enthusiastically producing paintings of volcanoes. Furneaux inaugurated his work by developing on-the-spot sketches of eruptions, which provided the composition for future paintings. It is recorded that his forty field sketches astounded his audience through their realism. In addition to landscapes, he painted still lives of flora and portraits. He received the Chevalier of Kapiolani award for advancing Hawaiian art just five years after arriving to Hawaii. Furthermore, merely one year after taking residence in the state, Furneaux held the first solo exhibition in Hawaii, along with the first printed companion catalogue. After teaching, much of his work was destroyed in a fire, thus the artist turned to photography. He spent his later years comfortably raising crops in Oloa until 1913.

Hiro Fine Art is interested in purchasing artworks by Charles Furneaux.