Anna Rice Cooke (September 5, 1853 – August 8, 1934) was a patron of the arts and the founder of the

Honolulu Museum of Art The Honolulu Museum of Art (formerly the Honolulu Academy of Arts) is an art museum in Honolulu, Hawaii, Hawaii. The museum is the largest of its kind in the state, and was founded in 1922 by Anna Rice Cooke. It has one of the largest single co ...

Biography

Anna Charlotte Rice was born on September 5, 1853, into a prominent missionary family on

Oahu Oahu (, , sometimes written Oahu) is the third-largest and most populated island of the Hawaiian Islands and of the U.S. state of Hawaii. The state capital, Honolulu, is on Oahu's southeast coast. The island of Oahu and the uninhabited Northwe ...

, Hawaii. Her father was teacher William Harrison Rice (1813–1863), and her mother was Mary Sophia Hyde. Anna grew up on the island of Kauai. She attended

Punahou School Punahou School (known as Oahu College until 1934) is a private, co-educational, college preparatory school in Honolulu, Hawaii. More than 3,700 students attend the school from kindergarten through 12th grade. The school was established by P ...

(then called Oahu College) 1867–1868, and

Mills College Mills College at Northeastern University in Oakland, California is part of Northeastern University's global university system. Mills College was founded as the Young Ladies Seminary in 1852 in Benicia, California; it was relocated to Oakland in ...

1871–1872. In 1874, she married

Charles Montague Cooke Charles Montague Cooke (May 6, 1849 – August 27, 1909) was a businessman during the Kingdom of Hawaii, Republic of Hawaii, and Territory of Hawaii. Life Charles Montague Cooke was born May 6, 1849, in Honolulu, Hawaii. His father was Amos Star ...

, a successful businessman, and the two eventually settled in Honolulu. Ones of her sons was Charles Montague Cooke Jr. (1874–1948), an American

zoologist Zoology ( , ) is the scientific study of animals. Its studies include the structure, embryology, classification, habits, and distribution of all animals, both living and extinct, and how they interact with their ecosystems. Zoology is one ...

. Other children were Clarence H. Cooke, George P. Cooke, Richard A. Cooke, Alice T. Cooke and Theodore A. Cooke. In 1882, the Cookes built a home on Beretania Street, across from Thomas Square Park. In the time, they had unobstructed views of Diamond Head and

from their second-story windows. As Cooke's career prospered, they began to gather their own private fine art collection. Anna's first additions were "parlor pieces" that graced their Beretania Street home. She frequented the shop of furniture maker Yeun Kwock Fong Inn who often had

Chinese ceramics Chinese ceramics are one of the most significant forms of Chinese art and ceramics globally. They range from construction materials such as bricks and tiles, to hand-built pottery vessels fired in bonfires or kilns, to the sophisticated Chinese ...

and textile pieces sent from his brother in China. Fong Inn eventually became one of Honolulu's leading art importers. Anna was an advocate for local artists, especially Charles W. Bartlett. She hosted exhibitions in her home and introduced artists to her wealthy friends.

Honolulu Academy of Arts

The Cookes' art collection outgrew their own home and the homes of their children. In 1920, she and her daughter Alice (Mrs. Phillip Spalding), her daughter-in-law Dagmar (Mrs. Richard Cooke), and Catharine E. B. Cox (Mrs. Isaac Cox), an art and drama teacher, began to catalogue and research the collection with the intent to display the items in a museum for the children of Hawaii. With little formal training, these women obtained a charter for the museum from the

Territory of Hawaii The Territory of Hawaii or Hawaii Territory (Hawaiian language, Hawaiian: ''Panalāʻau o Hawaiʻi'') was an organized incorporated territories of the United States, organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from Apri ...

in 1922, while continuing to catalogue each art treasure in the collection. In 1924, Cooke hired the painter Frank Montague Moore as the first director of the

. From the beginning, she wanted a museum that reflected the unique attributes of Hawaii's multi-cultural make-up. The Cookes donated their Beretania Street home for the museum, along with an endowment of $25,000 and several thousand works of art. Their family home was torn down to make way for the new museum. New York architect

Bertram Goodhue Bertram Grosvenor Goodhue (April 28, 1869 – April 23, 1924) was an American architect celebrated for his work in Gothic Revival architecture, Gothic Revival and Spanish Colonial Revival architecture, Spanish Colonial Revival design. He also d ...

designed the plans for a classic Hawaiian-style building with the mountains as a backdrop and colorful blossoming trees, flowers, and shrubs complementing the simple off-white exteriors and tiled roofs. Goodhue died before the project was completed. Stepping in to finish the job was Hardie Phillip. Over the years, this unique style has been imitated in many buildings throughout the state. On April 8, 1927, the

opened. On August 8, 1934, Cooke died quietly in her home.

Family tree

References

* Honolulu Academy of Arts, ''Honolulu Academy of Arts'', Honolulu, Honolulu Star-bulletin, 1937. * Marian, Sister Grace, ''The Honolulu Academy of Arts, Its Origin and Founder'', Honolulu, The Honolulu Academy of Arts, 1984. {{DEFAULTSORT:Cooke, Anna Rice American socialites American philanthropists Hawaii art American art collectors Women art collectors History of Oahu 1853 births 1934 deaths