Best known for his watercolor landscape paintings, German-born artist Henry Otto Wix (1866-1922) spent several months of 1912 painting at Haena and Hanalei.
Following his return to Lihue on Dec. 3, 1912, he gave an exhibition of his work at Lihue Hall that was attended by over 50 prominent residents of Kauai.
Lihue Hall, by the way, once stood on Rice Street, where the Lihue Chevron gas station is now located.
Built in 1903 between the properties of William Hyde Rice and C. H. Bishop, Lihue Hall was a long, wooden building with surrounding lanais used for meetings, socials and dances. It was demolished in 1925.
On display at Lihue Hall were 35 of Wix’s much admired paintings.
One of them presented a beautiful view of Hanalei Valley, as seen by looking across the Hanalei River toward the mountain peaks of Hihimanu, Namolokama, and Mamalahoa in the distance.
Other pictures incorporated morning and afternoon views of 1,115-foot-tall Mount Makana at Haena, from which firebrands were once hurled by Hawaiians on special occasions.
Several of the landscapes portrayed figures of residents of Haena and Hanalei — among them was an elderly Hawaiian man mending his fishing nets, while another was of a young boy sitting on the beach, gazing at the setting sun.
Two unfinished portraits of well-known residents of Lihue were also exhibited at Lihue Hall — but their identities are unknown.
Following his sojourn on Kauai, Wix went to Honolulu to give another art exhibition.
Wix’s paintings can be seen among the public collections of the The Honolulu Museum of Art and the Smithsonian American Art Museum.
It is also noted in the book “Mabel Wilcox. R.N.” by Barnes Riznik, that by 1930, the painting collection in the Wilcox house at Grove Farm Homestead, Kauai, contained the work of Otto Wix.
Henry Otto Wix committed suicide at Santa Barbara, California.
