Kohala Afternoon

From the peaches, mauves and celadons of flowers and flowing muumuus, Pegge Hopper’s women gaze knowingly, their stern beauty a sudden contrast to the surrounding softness. “I want to reveal a duality,” says Hopper of her women. “They are thinking: Don’t take me lightly. Don’t underestimate me. I may be a symbol for all the loveliness, the nurturing, the tenderness. But I am more than that. I need something for myself, too!” With a smile, Pegge adds, “Maybe it’s me sitting there.”

Pegge Hopper was born in 1935, in Oakland, California. She attended the Art Center School in Los Angeles and went east for her first job as a mural designer for Raymond Loewy Associates in New York. From New York, Hopper moved to San Francisco where she freelanced and then to Italy where she designed posters and graphics for La Rinascente in Milan. In 1963, she arrived in Honolulu and for two years worked as art director for Lennen and Newell Advertising Agency. In 1970, she began to paint and print her distinctive island women which are now cherished by art collectors everywhere.
Hopper’s work is represented in numerous private and public collections including the permanent collection of The State Foundation on Culture, The Arts and Contemporary Art Center in Hawaii and The Bishop Museum.