HoMA SELECT

Exhibition Website

Nov 3 2016 - Jun 25 2017

If you had to pick the very best work of art in the collection, what would it be? It’s a nearly impossible task with so many worthy choices. How about the 10 best? Top 40? One hundred?

For nearly two years, the museum’s curators embarked on this very mission to identify the best the Honolulu Museum of Art had to offer and arrived at 134 exceptional works—from a clock to a video installation—for the institution’s new Collection Highlights catalog.

HoMA SELECT distills the list to 22 collection gems, presented in a new light in the Spalding House galleries. Seen in open, airy spaces, these works’ merits are magnified in an unrestricted viewing experience. The exhibition steers clear of traditional art historical paradigms as works are paired in unexpected ways, regardless of time period, genre, or geographical origin, provoking thought and discussion.

What makes these works so special? Is it their rarity and value? Do they represent a pinnacle of technical achievement or a conceptual breakthrough that expand the definitions of art? Find your own answers at the exhibition.

Included in HoMA SELECT are works by Francis Bacon, Paul Gauguin, Hon'ami Kōetsu, Henry Moore, Nam Jun Paik, Auguste Rodin, Yamakawa Shūhō, and others, celebrating the remarkable quality and breadth of a collection that began nearly 90 years ago with founder Anna Rice Cooke.

Credit: Exhibition overview from museum website

  • Francis Bacon
  • Paul Gauguin
  • Hon'ami Kōetsu
  • Henry Moore
  • Nam Jun Paik
  • Auguste Rodin
  • Yamakawa Shūhō
  • and others

Exhibition Venues & Dates