Anna Rice Cooke was a patron of the arts and the founder of the Honolulu Museum of Artist
Background
Anna Charlotte Rice was born on September 5, 1853 into a prominent missionary family on Oahu, Hawaii. Her father was teacher William Harrison Rice (1813–1863), and her mother was Mary Sophia Hyde. Anna grew up on the island of Kauaʻi.
Other children were Clarence H. Cooke, George P. Cooke, Richard A. Cooke, Alice T. Cooke and Theodore A. Cooke.
Education
She attended Punahou School (then called Oahu College) 1867–1868, and Mills College 1871–1872.
Career
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 Punahou School 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.
Fong Inn eventually became one of Honolulu’s leading art importers. Anna was an advocate for local artists, especially Charles West. Bartlett.
She hosted exhibitions in her home, and introduced artists to her wealthy friends. With little formal training, these women obtained a charter for the museum from the Territory of Hawaii 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 Honolulu Museum of Artist
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 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 Honolulu Museum of Art opened.
On August 8, 1934, Cooke died quietly in her home.